Poison
by tsutsuji
Summary: Zelgadis seeks his cure at the fabled Shrine of Shimer. Xelloss has his own secret! reasons for visiting the shrine, reasons that will draw them ever closer together, and force Zel to make a momentous decision. XelZel, yaoi, angst. Bonus lemon added!
1. Chapter 1

Title: Poison (1 of 14.5)

Author: Tsutsuji

Date written: June 11, 2005. Edited with corrections to typos, August 24, 2006.

Fandom: Slayers

Rating: NC17 (M, mature audiences only!), but only PG-13 until chapter 8

Pairings: ZelgadisxXelloss

Type: yaoi/slash, adventure

Warnings: h/c, angst

Status: complete

Spoilers: no

Disclaimer: I do not own the copyright to the characters of Xelloss and Zelgadis and I'm making no profit from this fic and intend no copyright infringement. Other characters and the setting for this story are my own. Xelloss and Zelgadis and the magical world of Slayers were created by Hajime Kanzaka, for which I am eternally grateful! The plot for this story and the idea of Shimeria came to me unexpectedly and wouldn't leave me alone. Very much like Xelloss, in fact.

Author's Note: Poison is being translated into Russian - and illustrated! - by multi-talented Kaworu! Go take a look at kaworu-renritsu dot livejournal dot com (turn that into a link, I think it'll work!)

On 9/18/07 I noticed that all but the first page of this chapter were cut off here at ffnet - I have no idea how long it's been that way, but I hope this will fix it... sheesh, how embarassing!

Summary: A year after the defeat of Darkstar, Zelgadis finds his path has crossed with Xelloss' again. But what is the Trickster Priest seeking, and why must it take him to the same places where Zelgadis hopes to find his cure? Of course.. it's a secret...

-- Poison, chapter 1 (Prologue) --

Sometimes, in the year since he left Lina and the others to travel on his own, Zelgadis found he was able to enjoy the journey for its own sake. Even though he was still driven by the desire to find a cure for his rock-golem body and the demon third of his soul, there were some days when the sun shone golden on the fields and the birds sang in flowered meadows, when it was almost enough to simply be walking along at his ease, ready for whatever small adventures awaited him down the road.

Having seen the world nearly destroyed several times in the recent past, and been a part of saving it each of those times, made such small moments more valuable to him than they had ever been before. Knowing that his friends were somewhere in the same world, busy with their own adventures, gave him a feeling inside that warmed him like the sun never could.

Then, at the end of a day of such contentment, he would come to a village looking for a meal and a place to stay the night, only to be greeted with furtive glances or open stares. His hooded cloak and veiled face caused enough suspicion on their own, even if he waited until the shadows of dusk to approach an inn and stayed in smoke-filled corners of the common room.

He'd grown used to ignoring such reactions when he'd traveled with the others, although even then he was wary, if only because Lina would Fireball anyone who so much as grimaced at one of her companions. Now, he had no argument for an innkeeper who took a long look at his cloaked form, the silver-wire strands of hair that escaped his hood, and the glitter of stone flakes around his crystal blue eyes, and declared that he had no vacant rooms to let for the night.

"No rooms for a chimera with skin of stone and the look of a demon in his eyes," he would mutter, walking away into the dark to camp in the wilderness once again.

Sometimes it got worse than that. Sometimes he grew weary of trying to ignore the looks and whispers, and although he resisted the temptation to drop his disguise and reveal his true form to them, he would glare back, and his fingers would twitch. Seeing this, and the light in his eyes, they would know him for a sorcerer as well as a freak, and their fear would grow before his eyes. Then he would hear them whisper words and make signs of protection against the power of demons. Their folk magic didn't bother him; even a true Mazoku would only be amused by their feeble attempts to ward off evil magic. But they had the effect of hardening his heart.

One night, hearing such whispers, he decided recklessly to stay at the inn regardless of the reactions of the villagers. It was the last inn before the road left the placid valley to climb into the hills where shelter would be scarce. He even took brief delight in the wide-eyed trembling of the innkeeper and the sudden silence of the other patrons as he passed through their midst. But then, disgusted with himself, he left anyway, trudging through the dark streets between homes and shops with shuttered windows. And that's when the trouble began.

Hearing footsteps in the darkness near the edge of the village, Zelgadis had a moment to think to himself "I should have known better - idiot!" before the first flash of a spell attack seared the air around him. He spun around to face the local sorcerer, a balding, well-fed man who looked like he should be home with his plump wife and children rather than facing a demon in the dark of night. Shaking but resolute, the sorcerer stood in the middle of the road, flanked by half a dozen swordsmen wearing homemade armor.

"I'm leaving your village in peace," he growled. "I advise you not to stop me, or I'll be forced to make you regret it."

"It is our duty to rid the world of a creature of darkness!" the sorcerer cried, reminding Zelgadis uncomfortably of Amelia. But even if the lines sounded rehearsed and the voice shook, the power that gathered between the man's hands was strong and bright enough to cause Zel to worry.

Zelgadis threw up his shield, but to his surprise, the sorcerer did not attack with his spell. Instead, energy crackled through the air and jumped like lightning into each of the blades held up by the six swordsmen. They looked frightened but not surprised as they held their enchanted blades aloft. Zel realized that this was not a spur-of-the-moment attack but something practiced and planned. The village must have been plagued by demons wandering down from the nearby hills, and they'd learned to protect themselves.

He bristled even more at their assumption that he was one of the Mazoku, but peasants in isolated villages like this only recognized two kinds of beings - themselves, and monsters. He was clearly one of the latter in their eyes. That would force him to act like one, and they would never know the difference. Unfortunately, although he was not technically Mazoku at all, acting like one came all too easily to him at a time like this.

He pulled his sword, quickly casting the enchantment spell on it as well. If they were more knowledgeable, they would have realized that his need for an enchanted sword was a sure sign that he was not one of the Mazoku they feared, but at this point they wouldn't care even if they did realize the difference.

The sorcerer, in fact, narrowed his eyes briefly as Zel raised his glowing blade, daring them to come at him. For a second their eyes locked, but then the sorcerer smiled and unleashed his second spell. Zel realized the swordsmen had not held back from fear but had been awaiting this second spell, but it was too late to shift power back to his shield. The sorcerer's original spell was one Zel had never heard or seen before. It came at him faster than his senses could follow it, too quick to dodge. Fiery ropes of power wound around him like whip-ends, binding his arms to his sides. Soon he was bound from shoulder to ankle by enchanted ropes woven of astral energy, a trap designed to hold even Mazoku immobile just long enough for six enchanted swords to reach him.

Dropping his sword from the hand bound tight at his side, Zel tried to cast a breaking spell, but it barely weakened the bonds at all. He realized this village sorcerer was an untrained natural, and wondered if he even knew his own power. Seeing Zel struggle, the sorcerer looked momentarily surprised, and then his face lit up in triumph. He screamed to the swordsmen to attack.

Zel stretched his fingers toward the ground, but bound as he was, he couldn't put his full force into his spell. Even so, the ground shook under the soldiers, but although two of them stumbled, the rest danced across it as if it was something they did every day.

Zel screamed and glared at the first swordsman to reach him, knowing his face must look like every demon that haunted their nightmares. The swordsman answered his scream with one of his own and let his blade fall. The trembling ground sent him off balance, but the blow would have severed the arm of a normal mortal man. The blade went deep into the stone flesh of Zel's shoulder and stuck there, wrenched from the man's grasp as his own momentum carried him forward.

Zelgadis stumbled backward but kept to his feet, held in place by the sorcerer's binding spell. That was on purpose, he realized with a rush of fear. The bindings didn't just seal him from casting spells; they held him in place and made him an easy target. He raised his eyes in time to see a second swordsman's blade directly over his head, and a third coming at him from the side.

His scream of pain and rage seemed to echo off the darkness behind him. Out of that darkness, a sudden force like nothing he'd ever felt before yanked him backward. The second blade fell in front of him, the tip slicing the empty air in front of his nose. The third man's thrust caught his companion in the gut and they both fell at his feet. Three more swordsmen stood ready to strike. The sorcerer yelled a quick spell and Zel felt the bindings tighten even more around him.

Something gripped him from behind, ripping him free of the bindings and pulling him back again. He stumbled, caught off balance, but a strong arm closed around him before he could fall to the ground. Something darker cut through the darkness beside him. He heard a voice, harsh, deep, and strange, yet familiar, yelling unknown words in his ear. At the same time the hand that held him gripped the sword blade stuck in his shoulder, nudging it deeper into his flesh. Red-hot pain, along with fear, confusion, and anger, all combined to tear another scream from his throat, which mingled with the roar from the voice of the one that held him.

His last glimpse of the villagers saw their eyes widen in shock, reflecting a dull purplish--red glow. Then his vision disintegrated into sparks of pain, and everything went black.

The agony in his shoulder awoke him some time later. His throat was raw, and he remembered yelling, but other than that he could remember nothing but confusion before he opened his eyes. Above him, there was pale light in the sky above the trees. He could smell a dying campfire, and he heard the sound of a brook nearby, and the first birds twittering before dawn.

He started to roll over, then grasped his arm and gasped, falling back onto the ground.

"Ah, good. You're awake at last!"

The familiar voice cut through his pain, and his head jerked up.

"Xelloss!"

The trickster priest, the last person he expected to see, squatted next to the embers of a small campfire. His eyes were hidden in his smiling face, as usual.

"I'm afraid you'll have to heal yourself, Zelgadis-san," he said, with a nod toward Zel's injured shoulder. "You know healing spells are not in my repertoire."

Pain overwhelmed Zel's confusion and anger. He lay back and did as Xelloss suggested, remembering that the last thing he knew, a sword blade was still stuck in his shoulder. He didn't bother to ask what happened to it, or to the swordsmen or the sorcerer. He could hardly feel disgusted with the Mazoku for doing whatever he did to them. If he'd had the chance, he probably would have done nearly the same, and lived with the regret of it later. He didn't need to feel the regret that Xelloss was immune to.

Before he was done with the healing, the aroma of coffee and rich broth made his stomach growl. Once he thought of food and realized how hungry he was, he could hardly wait to finish the spell and eat. But when he finally sat up, trying to pull his tattered tunic sleeve into place over his shoulder, he faced Xelloss across the campfire with a suspicious glare. The trickster priest merely grinned his usual bland smile and held out a cup of steaming coffee. Zel took it, and looked at the bowl of broth that was warming in the embers as well. The food was obviously from his own supplies, but he couldn't help asking.

"Is it poisoned?"

Xelloss' smile remained in place, but for a moment it seemed more false than usual. Then he broke into an even wider grin.

"Of course, Zelgadis-san! I only saved you from an angry mob so I could watch you die of poison! What a delightful scenario. I wish I'd thought of it."

Zelgadis glared at his sarcasm for a few more seconds before huffing and shaking his head. He gave up and drank his coffee in silence, then dug into the broth without another thought. He was too hungry to puzzle out the Mazoku's motives. Xelloss sat back, sipping from his own cup, while Zel helped himself to breakfast.

The silence that fell between them was strangely familiar, almost comfortable. Xelloss showing up at a crucial moment, unexpectedly, was almost to be expected, as familiar a part of his life for the past several years as watching Gourry and Lina fight over food. But at the same time, this was different. Lina wasn't around, and Xelloss had never actually helped him out personally before.

"Let me guess," Zel said, as he polished off the last of the broth and poured another cup of coffee from the pot that sat among the coals. "You just happened to be passing this way on some errand that you can't explain, and now - don't tell me - now you're headed in the same direction as I am."

"Oh?" Xelloss looked surprised. "Are you on your way to the Shrine at Shimeria as well?"

Zel ground his teeth, making a half-hearted prayer to the gods for patience. "You knew that was where I was going," he muttered.

"You're still searching for a cure for your chimera form, aren't you?" Xelloss said in a more serious tone.

"Of course," Zelgadis answered shortly.

For a moment, he caught a rare glimpse of Xelloss' slitted eyes as the Mazoku looked at him directly.

"How sad and how foolish of you, Zelgadis-san," he said.

"It's none of your business," Zel said, shifting uncomfortably under Xelloss' gaze. "Anyway, what possible interest could you have in that shrine? You're not still looking for lost Claire Bible manuscripts, are you? If you ever really were. And if you say that it's a secret, I swear I'll run you through with my own enchanted sword."

Xelloss looked ridiculously innocent, then gave a chirp of laughter.

"There is no Claire Bible manuscript at the shrine of Shimeria," he said, "if that's your question. But I didn't think that's what you were going there for, anyway. The relics of the sainted Shimer are said to be able to cure almost any ailment or curse, aren't they?"

"That's what I've heard," Zel admitted, trying not to let either his hope or his skepticism show. "What's your interest in them? Are you looking for a cure for being a monster?"

"Oh, my!" Xelloss said with a wounded expression. "What a harsh thing to say! Well, I can't tell you it's a secret, so I can only say - I don't know!"

"What?" Zelgadis said, in spite of himself. He should know better by now than to let himself get caught up in the trickster's doubletalk.

"It's true," Xelloss said with an embarrassed laugh, rubbing the back of his head. "I don't know what I'm looking for. I'll just have to figure it out when I find it!"

Zelgadis shook his head. "You're just as annoying as ever, Xelloss," he muttered.

He considered changing his plans to avoid traveling with the priest, but he couldn't deny his hope that there would be something that could help him at Shimeria, and he had nowhere else to go. And anyway, he had to admit, it seemed an ungrateful way to behave when Xelloss had just saved his life - for whatever reason.

"Fine," he sighed. "I guess we're traveling together for awhile, then."

"Wonderful! Just like old times, isn't it?"

"Wonderful," Zelgadis echoed, as the rising sun slanted through the trees with golden light and the birds began to sing.

---

(to be continued... )


	2. Chapter 2

**Poison 2**

by: Tsutsuji

Date written: June 16-20, 2005. Edited for errors 8/06. Thanks to all who pointed out the typos and such that I missed!

Fandom: Slayers

Rating for this chapter: T

Disclaimers and other warnings in Chapter 1.

Summary: Zelgadis finds himself traveling alone with Xelloss, and trouble soon finds them when grinning warriors with surprisingly powerful weapons attack them. Who are these guys, and what do they have to smile about?

-- Poison, chapter 2 --

For the first week it was a peaceful journey. Xelloss was not as bad a traveling companion as Zelgadis had expected. Sometimes while they walked along he talked more than Zel would have liked, telling long tales that ended with a dark twist which he seemed to find amusing, or making rude jokes about dragons that made Zel blush and squirm inside. He hoped he would forget the images Xelloss' stories brought to his mind before he ever saw Filia again.

At other times, though, Xelloss was silent, staring ahead without expression as they trudged along the road. At those times he gripped his staff more tightly as he walked, and seemed to be deep in his own dark thoughts. Zel found that even more unsettling than the stories Xelloss told.

However, the worst thing about traveling alone with an unusually quiet Xelloss was that it gave Zelgadis far too many opportunities to simply notice the trickster priest in a way he'd always managed to avoid before. Without Lina and the others to provide a welcome distraction, he found himself terribly aware of Xelloss' presence at every moment. No matter how many times he reminded himself that Xelloss' human appearance was just a facade, he couldn't ignore the fact that the damn Mazoku was one of the most attractive men he'd ever met. And in spite of all he'd done to make Zel's life miserable in the past, he still managed to make himself likeable.

At times, he thought he felt Xelloss' eyes on him when his back was turned or his attention was elsewhere. But when he turned to face the priest, the most he would get was that familiar, bland smile. More often he'd find that Xelloss seemed to be looking at something else, or at nothing in particular. Then Zel would feel annoyed, as if it bothered him more to realize Xelloss wasn't staring at him after all.

For the first couple of days, he and Xelloss passed woodcutters' cottages and the occasional small farm or craftsman's hut, but then civilization disappeared as the forest closed in around them. Each day after that the forest became darker and the road became more steep and winding. The ridge they had to cross had once been the boundary between two warring kingdoms, but all that remained of those times was a crumbling fortress near the top of the ridge, and this one good road that had been made for the swift travel of armies.

Numerous bandit gangs were said to roam down out of the hills to raid the villages in the valley, when they weren't too busy fighting amongst themselves. Zelgadis wasn't much concerned with them. In fact he'd prefer to face the roughest gang of bandits over meeting any more "friendly" villagers. He could almost pity anyone who might attack him alone, to say nothing of those who were unfortunate enough to mistake a certain mild-mannered, wandering priest for easy prey.

Xelloss picked their camp at the end of each day, simply by stopping in his tracks and declaring that this was the best spot. Before Zel could protest that they could still go many miles before it even grew fully dark, Xelloss would have the campfire going and food cooking. Zelgadis would have preferred to make better time, especially since neither of them needed as much rest as a normal human would, and he didn't mind walking in the dark for half the night.

Each night, Zelgadis found himself sitting down to eat (in spite of previous evidence, Xelloss proved to be an excellent cook). He always planned to get up and continue walking after his meal, but then he'd get caught up in whatever tale Xelloss chose to entertain him with. Unlike the stories he told while they were walking, Xelloss' tales told over the campfire were firsthand accounts of events Zel had only read of in books of lore. With his rich voice, Xelloss told stories of great mages of the ancient days, of elves and of human heroes of the past. Zel couldn't help but listen, especially when Xelloss seemed willing to answer his questions about ancient spells that were only rumors in the catalogs of the Sorcerer's Guild. By the time Xelloss ran out of stories, it was too late to travel on that night.

He began to think Xelloss was slowing down their journey on purpose. He said so one morning as they broke camp, and rolled his eyes at the innocent look Xelloss gave him.

"Zelgadis-san, I'm only trying to make our journey more pleasant, even though I'm quite as anxious to reach Shimeria as you are," he insisted.

"If you have any idea of preventing me from finding a cure..." Zelgadis began, but Xelloss cut him off with a wave of his hand.

"No, no! I never meant to keep you from finding what you seek! It just happened that we were at cross-purposes on those previous occasions. However, I have to admit, I don't know why you are so anxious to be nothing but human. I much prefer you as the Chimera you are! As a matter of fact, the only reason I could have for delaying our journey is to spend more time in your company."

Zelgadis gritted his teeth. Trust Xelloss to confuse the issue with something that sounded like a compliment. He wanted to say that he never enjoyed Xelloss' company, but that would be a lie he didn't want to get caught in. He simply gave Xelloss a black glare before he turned away and started down the road again.

They walked much further that day, climbing far up into the hills. Not long after the sun set they reached a clearing, and Zel saw that beyond it, the road suddenly began to climb up a steep, rocky hillside through tangled trees. There wasn't likely to be a better place to camp between here and the top of the ridge, and it was impossible to tell how much further that would be. Xelloss merely paused, looking to Zelgadis to make the decision. Zel shrugged. A few minutes later, the campfire was lit and supper was cooking.

After they'd eaten, they sat opposite each other across the campfire in silence. Zelgadis realized that Xelloss had barely said a word all day. The silence was unnerving, even for one who preferred quiet as Zel did. He didn't care to sit there any longer with nothing to do but watch the firelight flicker on Xelloss' shadowed face and wonder what the trickster was up to.

"Have you ever been to this shrine?" he asked, just for something to say. "I've never been across the Plain of Shimeria before."

"Neither have I," Xelloss said. "This is the closest I've ever come to the birthplace of the great warrior-mage, Shimer. It's not a very popular tourist attraction for Mazoku, you know."

"Ah, yes," Zelgadis said, smiling. "How could I have forgotten? Shimer, the master sorcerer and healer, who is also said to have killed more Mazoku than any other human of his time."

"So the stories tell," Xelloss agreed mildly.

Zelgadis smiled across the campfire. "I've only been interested in Shimer's reputation as a healer, but there's another shrine dedicated to him in honor of his unceasing war against your kind, isn't there? I wonder, do you think Lina Inverse has surpassed him yet in the number of Mazoku she's destroyed?

Xelloss' smile didn't falter. "The answer to that is both yes and no," he said.

"Meaning what, exactly?" Zel asked, knowing he was only rising to the bait.

"It's true that Shimer himself managed to destroy a large number of Mazoku during his lifetime, as the tales say. However, most were of low rank. At the time, less than a hundred years ago, troops of Mazoku roamed in the land; you might think of them as foot-soldiers. It is said that he wiped out many squadrons of them. However," he added cheerfully, "Lina Inverse has the distinction of killing off more of our higher-ranking Mazoku than any other person I know of, as well as a fair number of lesser monsters. So you could say, her score is higher than Shimer's, in a way."

"I see. Shimer never faced a reborn segment of Shabrinigdo himself, and only Lina is responsible for the destruction of at least one of the five great Mazoku lords and indirectly responsible for the death of another."

Xelloss didn't seem to take offense at the reminders of his race's recent defeats, but only beamed back at Zelgadis across the fire.

"I suppose you have also forgotten who finally killed Shimer, according to the legends?" Xelloss went on in the same cheerful voice.

Zelgadis thought about it. For a moment he couldn't remember, except that the name of the Mazoku lord who'd defeated Shimer was never written down in the books that told of his deeds. He looked up in surprise as the name fell into place.

"I've heard it was Gaav. Is that true?"

"It's what I've heard as well. Even we Mazoku don't know for certain, however. No one ever asked Gaav if he did it. Well, we weren't really on speaking terms with him at the time, you see! We only cared that Shimer was indeed dead."

His voice dropped suddenly into a colder tone with the last words. Zelgadis glanced at him curiously. It had never occurred to him before that Shimer might be a sore spot for Mazoku.

"Was there any doubt about his death?" Zelgadis asked. If no one knew for sure who or what had killed him, was there some chance that the powerful mage was still alive? Could that be why Xelloss was going to visit his shrine city?

"No doubt at all. Some humans who witnessed his death are still alive, although it was over eighty years ago now. His bones and effects are displayed for all to see at his southern shrine, at Demonend. I saw them for myself just recently, in fact. They are quite well preserved, and guarded day and night by his followers."

All hint of humor had left Xelloss' voice. The fire had burned low, so Zel could hardly see his face, shadowed as it was by his dark hair. But for a moment, he thought he saw the glint of Xelloss' eyes in the darkness.

"What were you doing at Demonend?" he couldn't help asking.

Xelloss glanced up and raised a finger in front of his lips.

"Stop! Never mind," Zel said quickly. "Just forget I even asked."

Xelloss smiled. That was the end of conversation for a while.

---

The attack came in the middle of the night. Zel's sharp senses made him a light sleeper, and his stone skin made him a poor choice for a bandit's attempt at a little midnight murder. He woke up a few seconds before the blade fell, alerted by whispers he must have heard in his sleep. He didn't even bother to move, seeing the blade gleam in the starlight as it swung down toward his neck. It merely bounced off his skin. His attacker grunted in surprise.

He sat up quickly and took advantage of the bandit's shock to reach out and grab the blade. Showing his pointed teeth bared in an angry grin, he twisted it out of the startled man's grasp.

"Demon!" the man gasped, jumping back. Then, to Zel's surprise, his face twisted into a grin and he dove forward to grab Zel by the throat with both hands. Growling like an animal, he squeezed with surprising strength.

Even so, it took little effort for Zel to pry his fingers loose, bending them backward until they snapped. That hardly slowed his assailant down. The man butted his head into Zel's chest, which broke Zel's hold on him. Rather than scream in pain and retreat, the man snarled again, foam flying from the corner of his mouth, as he took a swing at Zel's face with his broken hand. Zel jerked his head back. The man grunted in pain when his fist grazed Zel's stone chin, but he was still grinning. He raised his arm and got ready to strike again.

Zel had had enough of him. Sparing no force this time, he grabbed the man by the tunic and yanked him back so fast his neck might have snapped. Zel didn't care to find out. He simply tossed the bandit off of him into the air.

As he climbed out of his blankets and came fully awake, he realized two things simultaneously: the man who had attacked him had not been dressed as a bandit but wore a grey tunic and cloak, and there were several others like him in the camp. Their grey robes were lighter shadows in the darkness, and he could make out at least three of them in the clearing under the thin trees. One was just turning toward him, his attention caught by Zel's movement. The other two were facing off against a very angry-looking Xelloss.

There was something odd about that, but Zel didn't have time to ponder the question. The man who'd spotted him drew a long, gleaming sword from the folds of his robe and started toward him. He may have been dressed more like a sorcerer or even a cleric, but he was poised to strike like a skilled swordsman. Zel didn't have time to wonder about that, either. He stooped down quickly to pick up his own sword, and spun around with it just in time to block the other's blow.

Face to face, sword blades locked, he finally got a good look at his new attacker. The man had a thin face, short-cropped hair, and a wide, toothy smile. Bracelets jangled on both his arms, and several talismans of silver and stone hung around his neck. The clasp of his grey cloak was a single white stone, shaped like a teardrop. His eyes gleamed with a touch of madness.

"Die, Mazoku!" he hissed, lunging forward until his face was so close Zel could feel the heat of his breath. Then he sprang backward, disengaging his sword. Zel recovered just as quickly and blocked his next blow, but he was surprised to find this man's strength was as unusually strong as the first one had been.

He needed to get clear enough to use a spell, but the swordsman seemed to sense his intent and kept him busy defending himself. Try as he might, he couldn't get under the man's guard or knock him away without leaving himself open for a few seconds. The sword seemed ordinary enough, though, so he decided it was worth the risk of letting his guard down in order to cast his spell.

As he did so, he was startled by the look of wild glee in the man's eyes. The man stabbed his blade at Zel's abdomen. Not an elegant attack but direct and possibly effective - against a normal man, anyway. In Zel's case, it only had the effect of knocking a bit of wind out of him as it poked him hard, just under his ribs. It did not break the skin, of course, and he swatted it aside with the back of his hand.

The crazed-looking smile faltered for a second, but then it returned quickly. The fighter's blade whipped through the air with a singing sound as he stepped back a couple of paces, and then he stood there with sword raised, ready for Zel's next move.

Zel feinted to draw his blade aside, then stepped back and began a quick chant under his breath. It took the man a second to realize what he was doing. His eyes widened and he started to rush Zel to interrupt the chant, but it was too late. A second later he was flat on his back, staring rigidly at the stars above. A second after that, Xelloss was at Zel's elbow, grinning cheerily.

"Nicely done, Zelgadis! He certainly was asking for it, wasn't he!"

Zel shook him off irritably, and looked around wildly for the other two men. He didn't see them, but before he could wonder what Xelloss had done to them, he heard voices shouting in the trees all around them.

"Now, we've done it," Xelloss said in tones of mild distress. "We've got their attention, I'm afraid."

"It sounds like a whole squadron of them," Zel said, in surprise. He could make out voices from at least a dozen different directions, and saw movement under the trees. Some of them carried torches, and others, it seemed, had activated light spells. That made them visible as well, of course. It was the ones he still couldn't see that worried him.

"Yes, I'd say there's at least twenty of them nearby, and possibly more," Xelloss said, as if he was observing the weather. "And if I'm not mistaken, we're surrounded as well."

Zel could tell he was right. His sensed at least twenty, and several of them were about to break into their tiny clearing from either side.

"Damn! Who are they, anyway?"

"You might as well ask them," Xelloss said, as the first of many grey-robed warriors burst through the trees. Two were on his side of the clearing, three more on the other, and many more close behind. Each one wielded a sword, mace, or spear, and they were all smiling with horrible glee.

"Die, Mazoku!" one of them shouted as they surged forward. Several others echoed the cry.

Without thinking, Zelgadis turned so he was back to back in a defensive stance with Xelloss. He began to chant another spell as Xelloss raised his staff.

They were quicker than he expected, and they knew what they were facing. The lead man tossed a spear which flashed like a shooting star as it arced through the air toward them. It was aimed to drive them apart, and it worked. Instinctively, they leapt away from each other. Zel continued to work his spell, however, and a second later the spearman fell under his blast, along with the man behind him.

Another man appeared as if out of nowhere, leaping over the campfire with a long, curved knife in his hand and a second blade in his teeth. The curved blade flashed with unnatural brightness. Zel suspected it was enchanted, and while it probably couldn't kill him, it might be able to pierce his chimera body and slow him down. He remembered all too well the bite of the enchanted sword in that last village. He feinted toward the man, making him pause long enough so he could spin and dash back a step, and begin another spell. It was time to take out this whole group in one blow.

His eye was caught by movement to his side. Xelloss spun around in place, pointing the tip of his staff right at him. Zel's eyes widened as power flashed from the jewel at the top of the priest's staff and shot toward him. He froze in place. The beam of power slashed past him, grazing his arm. Something lit the air with a red glow behind him, and he heard several bodies fall to the ground. A heavy steel-plated mace, glowing with enchantment, rolled forward to land next to his foot. For the second time in less than a week, it appeared that Xelloss had saved his stone skin.

He glanced back at Xelloss in time to see him dodge another warrior who had come up behind him while he was casting the spell at Zel's attackers. The tip of a spear gleamed like molten silver before it disappeared, caught in Xelloss' cloak. At that moment, just as Xelloss spun to face his attacker, the man with the curved blade leapt in front of Zelgadis and slashed toward his face.

"Die, Mazoku!" he spat as he grabbed his second blade from between his teeth.

Zel snarled, but it was useless to point out that he wasn't Mazoku. Instead he simply continued his interrupted spell as he danced away from the man's swinging blades. There were too many more fighters gathering behind him, coming in from the other side of the clearing. Xelloss was busy with half a dozen more of them already, and the rest seemed unconcerned when he swung his staff at the one in the lead and knocked the man's head off like a golf ball off a tee.

Zelgadis let his spell loose at last. The blast of wind flattened the men closest to him and tossed several others back into the trees. He quickly followed with another attack spell. Sizzling arrows flew from his hands. One passed under Xelloss' upraised arm to burn a hole in the chest of his nearest attacker. Another took out the man with the curved blades. With a flutter of horror, Zelgadis saw that the crazed smile never left the man's face as he fell.

He'd cleared the space around the two of them, but more were still coming. Xelloss sprinted over to him.

"This way," he said, sounding a little breathless. He tugged Zelgadis by the arm toward the one side of the clearing that was empty of warriors.

Before he had time to think about it, Zel found himself running up the rocky hillside with Xelloss dashing along beside him. They were both unnaturally fast and they could see in the dark. Whatever insane strength their attackers had, they were still only human - as far as Zelgadis could tell. At any rate, they quickly lost sight of their attackers, but they kept running on, up the hillside, in the direction they'd started in. Zelgadis had no idea where they were going.

The trees here were scraggly, growing reluctantly on rocky soil, and he and Xelloss leapt over boulders and roots as they continued to climb up the ever-steeper hillside. Zel's sharp ears heard their own footfalls, his own ragged breath, and a few cries and shouts behind them in the trees. The sounds of pursuit had fallen far behind them. Just when he began to wonder why they were still running, and what was wrong with this picture, Xelloss stumbled and fell.

Out of the corner of his eye, Zelgadis saw Xelloss skid to his knees in the dirt. Surprised, he nearly lost his footing himself on the tumbled stones. He spun around, instinctively looking to help a fallen companion, but then stopped. He narrowed his eyes at Xelloss, wondering suddenly why he had been running alongside him in the first place. Why hadn't he already disappeared, as he usually did when trouble started?

He caught a glimpse of Xelloss' face, pale in the dim starlight, before the priest fell forward onto his hands and knees. When he didn't move again for several seconds, Zelgadis took the few steps back to stand in front of him.

"Xelloss?" he hissed, instinctively whispering. Sound would travel well through the trees, and he could still sense their pursuers following. "What the hell are you doing?"

Slowly, Xelloss raised his head enough that Zel could see the lower part of his face. His mouth was twisted in what seemed to be a smile. His eyes were hidden.

"Nothing at all," he hissed back. For once, it seemed to be the literal truth.

With a shock, Zelgadis realized that what he thought was a smile was a grimace of pain. He dropped to his knees in front of the priest.

"What kind of trick is this?" he whispered angrily. "Why are you acting like you're hurt? Get up, or I'm leaving you here!"

"Go ahead," Xelloss said without raising his head.

Something cold climbed his spine as he tried to convince himself that Xelloss was just faking it, playing some trick of his own. He suddenly remembered the silver-tipped spear. Could it have carried some astral spell that was capable of wounding Mazoku?

"Damn it, Xelloss! Are you hurt?"

Xelloss didn't answer. Zelgadis realized he was trembling. His shoulders shook with the effort of even staying up on his hands and knees, and his head drooped again. Impossible as it seemed, Xelloss did indeed appear to be wounded.

Voices called to others in the trees directly below them. They might have found the trail already. Zelgadis didn't relish the idea of taking all of them on by himself, in a battle among the trees, where they appeared to know these woods better than he did - and especially not if they had enchanted weapons powerful enough to injure a Mazoku as strong as Xelloss. It made more sense to outrun them. But if they caught up to Xelloss while he was down like this...

It flashed into Zel's mind that whatever fate befell Xelloss at their hands was richly deserved. But it didn't seem to matter if that was true. He couldn't leave him behind.

"Can you stand?" he whispered.

"Not at the moment, I'm afraid," Xelloss answered, his voice full of regret.

The voices and footsteps pounding up the hillside made Zelgadis' mind up for him. He grabbed Xelloss' arm and yanked it around his shoulder, ignoring the hiss of pain that escaped the priest's lips as he hauled him upright. Hooking his other arm around Xelloss' waist, he started to run again. Xelloss did his best to help, but he could only stumble along with Zelgadis bearing most of his weight. Surprisingly, he wasn't very heavy, even though he felt solid in Zel's grasp.

Zel ran in a zigzagging line up the hillside, senses alert for any movement behind them. Or above them: at least some of their pursuers appeared to be sorcerers, so they might well be able to Levitate. Still, they hadn't used any attack spells in the clearing, so maybe they were only capable of small spells like lighting. He hoped that was the case, because they were running out of trees to hide under.

However, instead of the trees, stone walls rose around them, tumbled in places but still mostly intact in others. Wary of becoming trapped in the maze of the old fortress, he decided it was better than staying out in the open.

He found he had crested the hill and was now running on the level as the stone walls rose on either side. He ducked into one of the tumbled doorways that led off the main passage.

More corridors opened off of this one, leading deeper into the fortress. Boulders twice his height were strewn about like discarded toys, leaning against each other where they'd fallen. He crouched by one of these and let Xelloss drop gently to the floor, propping him up to sit against one of the fallen stones. As they'd entered the fortress, Xelloss had started to get his feet under him a little, but now he sat there limply and didn't seem ready to rise any time soon. His chin sank onto his chest and his hands rested unmoving in his lap.

Zel considered checking him to find the wound or injury that had weakened him, as he would have done with any normal companion. But even if he found it, he doubted he could do anything about it, and Xelloss seemed to be recovering, if slowly. Wondering once again why the Mazoku didn't just disappear, he stood there looking down on him for a moment, trying to decide what to do.

Xelloss finally looked up at him. His face was pale, gleaming in the darkness between the stones with a strange light of its own. He smiled up at Zelgadis and began to speak in near his normal voice.

"This fortress had a very long history," he began, in the tone of a lecturer. "It was built here at the crest of the ridge at a most strategic location. In over two hundred years, no attack ever breached its walls while there was anyone within to defend it."

Zelgadis gaped at him. He couldn't believe even Xelloss was chattering away about local history like a tour guide, as if nothing was going on at all. Then suddenly he understood the point of the lecture. Without another word, he turned on his heel and sped out of the chamber.

At the crest of the hill where the passage began, he looked down into the trees below. The space had once been cleared of trees, he realized, and even now, there were only scraggly brush and stumps. When the first of the warriors appeared following his trail, they were plain to see in the midnight darkness with his part-demon eyes.

He waited just inside the walls, out of sight for the moment. They had tracked him like bloodhounds so there was little point in hiding, but he didn't want to make himself an easy target. When a dozen or so of them had climbed into clear view, he stepped out to face them. They barely paused when they saw him, but the leering grins on their faces widened as they raised their weapons and surged forward.

He tried to speak to them, asking what they wanted, who they were, and warning them to give up their attack. They kept coming up the hill, with more appearing every second. They gave no answer to him, but many of them murmured the same two words over and over.

"Die, Mazoku!"

When the first twenty or so were almost in spear's reach, he quickly cast a spell that sent a shockwave into the ground. Most of them tumbled backward. It didn't stop them for long, but he only needed to hold them off until the entire troop was within sight.

He counted nearly fifty all told when he finally sensed that there were no more coming up the hill. Their weapons glinted with the unnatural light of various enchantments, many of them with the quicksilver gleam of the spear that must have struck Xelloss. Every one of them smiled the same crazed-looking grin. They hardly seemed human, he thought, hardening his heart as he raised his hands and began to cast his final spell.

A few minutes later, he walked slowly back into the chamber, head bowed. He felt weary to the bone as he felt the demonic rage of battle drain away. Too tired to think, he walked over to where he'd left Xelloss. He could only shake his head in wonder as he looked down on the Mazoku. Xelloss was lying on his side with one arm curled around himself. As far as Zelgadis could tell, he was fast asleep.

He couldn't remember seeing Xelloss sleep before, at least not since he'd known the trickster priest wasn't human. He looked deceptively vulnerable. Zelgadis realized that this could be the opportunity he'd longed for, to take out his rage on the annoying trickster who had caused him so much frustration in the past. But his old anger seemed to have dulled its edge somehow. There was the fact that Xelloss had possibly saved his life twice, for one thing, although he surely had his own reasons for doing so. And there were some other reasons which Zelgadis didn't care to examine too closely as he gazed down at the sleeping priest.

He wondered what kind of trouble Xelloss was leading him into. Perhaps he'd expected to meet this squadron in the hills, and that was why he'd been holding up their progress. Had those men been under the control of some sorcery - or in thrall to another Mazoku? He hadn't considered that until now. It was too late to ask any of them.

He thought he should shake Xelloss awake and ask him what he knew - or just hit him with a nice little Ra Tilt first and ask questions afterward. Instead he knelt down next to him, searching his face and looking again for any sign of a wound. He found himself staring at the peaceful face that was half hidden by dark hair. He felt a sudden urge to lie down beside Xelloss and touch the soft-looking hair that lay on his cheek.

Zelgadis shook that thought off with a shudder, forcefully reminding himself that this was not Xelloss' true form. Annoyed at his own feelings, he prodded Xelloss' shoulder roughly. He half expected the trickster to jump up and reveal that he was only faking sleep and injury. Nothing happened except that he felt a tremor under his fingertips, and the hand Xelloss held around himself clenched slightly and relaxed.

Zelgadis stood and quickly turned away. Seeing Xelloss like this was disturbing for more reasons than he cared to think about. He told himself he was still on edge from being attacked. After all, for all he knew there could be more of those fighters out there in the forest - or something worse.

He walked away and sat in the doorway to the chamber. He could see out to the hillside from here, and he would hear and sense anyone approaching in the dark. Keeping watch on the still, black night, Zelgadis tried to forget that Xelloss was there at all.

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To be continued.

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Next: Zelgadis has questions. Xelloss has - answers? Not exactly!

(Remember to check out Kaworu's illustrated translation of Poison into Russian. Look for it on Livejournal for a lovely illustration of Xelloss by firelight! )


	3. Chapter 3

**Poison 3 **

by: Tsutsuji

Date written: June 20-28, 2005. Editd for typos August 2006.

Rating for this chapter: PG13 - T

Disclaimer and other warnings in chapter 1

Summary: Zelgadis has questions. Xelloss has - answers? Not likely! Evasions, distractions, and maybe a few actual hints, but no answers. So it's on to the Valley of Shimeria to seek the healing powers of the great and powerful Shimer, and maybe buy a few souvenirs on the way!

Notes: As always, please point out any errors of Slayers fact or other problems.

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Poison, chapter 3

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Zelgadis didn't realize he'd fallen asleep until he woke up to find Xelloss kissing him on the lips.

Shock held him still for a moment. He was amazed that he was being kissed in the first place, and even more surprised that it was Xelloss who was kissing him. He stared at half-closed, slitted eyes, trying to make sense of it, but his brain wouldn't respond. Most shocking of all was the intensity of the sensation, this pressure of surprisingly soft lips pressed firmly onto his. A few parts of his stone body were still sensitive to touch, but he hadn't realized how much his mouth was one of them.

When the firm tip of a tongue prodded his lips he finally reacted. With a grunt of alarm, he tried to jerk away, only to find Xelloss' hand tight at the back of his neck. He felt Xelloss' lips curve into a smile as he struggled for a second or two. Anger flared inside him, followed quickly by fear. He began to panic, trapped by the unyielding strength in the Mazoku's grip, when Xelloss suddenly released him. He fell back onto the stone floor with a sharp curse. Xelloss sat back on the floor cross-legged and smiled.

"Damn it, Xelloss!" he sputtered. He felt his face go red with rage and embarrassment as he sat up and glared at the laughing priest. "What the hell was that for?"

"Curiosity," Xelloss said cheerfully. "_Your _breakfast is ready as well," he added with a wave of his hand toward the small fire he'd built on the pavestones of the chamber. There was the usual pot of coffee among the coals, along with the dried meat and fruit that made up Zel's regular traveling breakfast.

Zelgadis took a deep breath, willing his heart to stop racing and his confused feelings to settle. Anger at Xelloss was all too familiar, but that rush of fear was something new. Other feelings had been nudged awake by that kiss as well, though - feelings he'd prefer to ignore for his own comfort, to say nothing of hiding them from Xelloss.

After a few deep breaths his head began to clear, and then he remembered all that had happened the night before. He glanced quickly at Xelloss, who was now busy with the campfire. He looked as healthy as ever, and as annoyingly cheerful as he could be. But Zel noticed that Xelloss kept his head lowered as he poured them each a cup of coffee, hiding most of his face. He studied what he could see more closely. He didn't know if Mazoku could blush, but there was certainly more color in Xelloss' cheeks than there had been the night before.

Trying to use the welcome cup of coffee as a distraction, he settled by the fire and tried to collect his thoughts. Xelloss didn't look directly at him, but he had a feeling of being watched out of the corner of those slitted eyes. Watched - or sensed. After a few sips, his head became clear enough to figure out why Xelloss had kissed him. He felt an odd flicker of disappointment when he realized the true reason, but a new spike of anger quickly buried that emotion.

"Feeling better now?" he asked through gritted teeth.

Xelloss faced him with his head cocked so his hair fell over his eyes. "Hmm?" he said innocently, as if he didn't understand the reason for the question.

"If you want my anger," Zel said quietly, "you needn't resort to such drastic measures. I can give you plenty of that without half trying."

Slowly, Xelloss raised his head and looked directly at him with his inhuman eyes. Zelgadis glared back at him, trying to ignore the way that stare made his heart pound. Finally Xelloss inclined his head slightly with a small smile, as if to acknowledge Zel's words. Then he turned his attention back to his coffee.

Zelgadis glared at him a few seconds longer, then gave up and concentrated on his own breakfast. He ate in silence, too unsettled to start asking the questions swirling in his mind.

"You did an excellent job taking care of that squadron of men who attacked us, Zelgadis-san," Xelloss said casually. "Very efficient. There wasn't even much left of their weapons."

Zelgadis shrugged. The reminder of what he'd done to nearly fifty men made him uncomfortable.

"I thought you were asleep," he said lightly. "But then, I didn't know Mazoku ever really slept."

"Why shouldn't we?" Xelloss asked. "As a matter of fact, there's probably quite a lot you don't know about us," he added.

"I often wish I didn't know as much as I do," Zelgadis muttered.

Xelloss made a show of being hurt by this comment, but he quickly recovered his cheerful expression. Zel watched him eat and drink - or go through the motions of eating and drinking, as he always did.

"How badly did they hurt you?" he asked. He decided he might as well be blunt about it, for all the good it would do.

Sure enough, Xelloss merely looked surprised. "Oh, did you think I was hurt? It's so kind of you to worry about me, Zelgadis-san!"

"You collapsed! You were passed out like a drunken sailor when I dragged you in here last night!"

"Oh?" Xelloss held his arms out to either side, cup in one hand and a chunk of dried meat in the other. His staff lay across his knees, and his clothing appeared as clean and fresh as if he'd just retrieved it from the laundry. "I'm fine, as you can see."

Zel stared, searching for sign of an injury he didn't really expect to see. All he did notice was that Xelloss looked perfectly healthy, and disturbingly fit. In fact, he had to draw his eyes away from staring. He forced his mind to return to the questions at hand. Had Xelloss really been faking it last night? If so, why?

"You left me to deal with those men on my own," he accused Xelloss. "Why?"

"I knew you could handle the lot of them with no trouble," Xelloss said smoothly. "As you did."

Zelgadis guessed at the reason, but he said nothing. He didn't remember feeling rage when he'd released his spell, only cold determination to stop their mad attack, as if the demon part of him had cast the spell. But whatever he'd felt, Xelloss must have enjoyed it immensely. Perhaps he also felt it would be beneath him to use his own powers on mere mortal men. But Zelgadis also remembered their mindless, grinning faces, and wondered if they had been mere mortals.

"Who were those men?" he asked. "You know something about them, don't you?"

Xelloss shrugged. "Well, it's not so hard to guess, is it? The people of this valley have been plagued by all kinds of monsters - werewolves, vampires, bandits, ogres, and the like, for many years. Some of them have found their own ways to deal with the problem, like those villagers who were so unfriendly to you. You might say they made use of local talent in that case. Other towns have the means to hire mercenaries and demon-hunters. Talented fighters, but terribly single-minded, I'm afraid. It's natural that they should patrol this area. This isn't called the Haunted Ridge for no reason, you know!"

"I didn't know it was called that," Zelgadis said suspiciously. But even as he said it, he recalled seeing the name on a map somewhere. It made sense that this old fortress would give the area a name like that.

"That's why most pilgrims to Shimeria take the longer way around to the north or far to the south just so they can avoid these hills, even though it adds weeks to the journey," Xelloss continued.

Zelgadis remembered those longer routes on the maps he'd studied as well. He also remembered wondering why there weren't more travelers on this road. He would have asked about it in the villages he'd passed through, if anyone had ever been willing to speak to him. But if it was true that they'd all been attacked frequently by monsters, their suspicion of him made more sense. He almost felt sorry for them - but not very sorry. He was well out of their territory; there was no point in looking back now.

"Speaking of Shimeria, what has all this got to do with the reason you're going there?" he asked.

There was the briefest pause. For a moment, Zelgadis was certain his blunt question had finally caught Xelloss off guard. But then Xelloss gave him another of those innocent smiles.

"Just as I said before, I don't know exactly what I'm looking for in Shimeria," he said. "I'm not even certain it will be there at all."

"Then why don't you look somewhere else and leave me to search in peace!" Zelgadis snapped.

"Hm... Well, I suppose I could do that," Xelloss said, cocking his head. He seemed to seriously consider this for about three seconds. "But Shimeria is so close! We're no more than a few days away from the Shrine itself, I believe. As long as I've come this far..." he shrugged.

Zelgadis took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Why had he even bothered to try getting any useful information out of Xelloss? He'd be better off looking somewhere else for his cure, he thought, rather than be caught up in any more of Xelloss' schemes. But just as Xelloss said, Shimeria was too close to back off now.

Finished with breakfast, he stood and paced a short way across the chamber, stopping to gaze out through the broken walls. He looked away from the hill they'd climbed the night before, searching for the place where the road must pass by the fortress.

It was not much after dawn, with a fresh wind blowing broken clouds up from the valley below. The wind moaned and whistled through the broken stones, giving the place a ghostly feeling even in the daylight. But as far as he could tell, there were no ghosts roaming the fortress. There was no one else at all except the two of them.

He could feel Xelloss watching him again. Irritated, he decided to try one more time to get any information out of the trickster, knowing it was probably useless.

"Why didn't you just vanish last night like you usually do when there's trouble?" he asked over his shoulder.

"I thought you might need my help dealing with those fighters, Zelgadis-san!" Xelloss answered.

"A moment ago you said that you knew I could deal with them on my own," Zel said. He turned around to face Xelloss with a smirk, only to find the trickster priest standing right next to him.

"Of course, I knew you could!" Xelloss answered quickly. He actually looked embarrassed to be caught in a contradiction. Zel became convinced that he could indeed blush at will. "But, just in case," Xelloss added with an innocent smile. He took a step closer.

Zelgadis suddenly realized they were standing inches apart. A soft smirk and the sly look on Xelloss' face reminded him of the way he'd awoken. With a flush of warmth in his face, he remembered the pressure of those lips on his.

"Forget it!" he growled, turning away quickly.

He knew perfectly well what Xelloss was doing. The problem was, it was working. The memory of that kiss flustered him much more than he wanted to admit. He didn't stand a chance of getting answers to his questions now, especially since he could hardly remember what the questions were with Xelloss standing so close and staring at him like that. The only way he was going to find out what was going on was to continue the journey and see what happened. At any rate, he was going to Shimeria to find his cure, no matter what Xelloss was up to.

"Let's just get on our way, then," Zelgadis growled. "If you're rested enough, that is?"

"Yes, certainly! Thank you!" Xelloss answered brightly.

Zelgadis left him to pack up while he took a look at the road ahead. A minute later, Xelloss stood beside him at what had once been the front gate of the fortress. The road disappeared into trees down the hill to their right, the way they'd come. To the left, it dove down into a cleft in the rock, the narrow Shimeria Pass. With no further discussion, Zel shouldered the pack that Xelloss handed him and started down that road.

The road followed a small stream down between high stone cliff walls. After an hour of walking down the steep path, they emerged from the cleft in the rock to see the Plain of Shimeria spread out far below them. From this distance, seen through the hazy air, it looked like a checkerboard of green and brown patches. Three dark lines wandered across it to join into one thick line far off to the right: the Three Rivers of Shimeria. Not far across the plain the line of the middle river made a deep loop, and inside the loop something glittered in the sun.

"That must be the Shrine City itself," Xelloss said. "I've heard there are towers made of pure crystal, and the whole city is said to sparkle like a jewel in the midst of a desert."

"You were right," Zelgadis said, "It's only a few days away."

They lost sight of the plain when the road dropped into forest again, and nearly lost sight of the road itself after that. It was not as well made on this side of the ridge, and Zelgadis guessed it was hardly used at all these days. During the long day's walk, he levitated over many fallen trees and broken bridges, and slid on his butt down a muddy slope once when a log rolled out from under his feet. Xelloss wisely stifled his laughter. Zelgadis wished he'd simply flown over the forest to the edge of the plain, but he hadn't expected the downhill trip to be more difficult than the climb up the other side had been.

They continued long after dark this time; Zelgadis hoped to reach the bottom of the slope before they stopped for the night. They didn't talk much. Xelloss seemed preoccupied with his own thoughts. Zelgadis was only concerned with getting down to the plain and welcomed the silence. They saw no other signs of human life at all, and that suited Zelgadis as well.

Several times during the long hike, Zelgadis glanced over at Xelloss after feeling that prickle in his skin from being watched. Instead of trying to hide it, the trickster priest only smiled slowly before looking away. Zelgadis decided he didn't want to know what Xelloss was thinking. It was probably just one more attempt to get some emotional reaction he could enjoy. Zelgadis tried not to give him the satisfaction, but his irritation grew. He was more aware of Xelloss' presence than ever. He tried very hard not to think about that kiss.

They finally stopped to camp when the forest became so thick and dark that Zelgadis could hardly even see Xelloss beside him, even with his unnatural sight. Once they stopped, Zelgadis discovered he was wearier than he'd expected, and after a quick meal, he soon fell asleep in a bed of dry pine needles. He tried to keep his eyes open long enough to see if Xelloss was going to sleep as well, but his last glimpse was of the dark, familiar silhouette sitting upright by the dying campfire.

This time, when he woke up at dawn, Xelloss wasn't in sight, but the campfire had been stirred to life and coffee was ready. While he was taking his first sip, Xelloss appeared, looking as cheerful as ever. Zelgadis regarded him suspiciously.

"We're nearly there!" Xelloss said as he plopped to the ground and sat cross-legged across from him. "This forest ends soon, and then it's just a short drop down onto the plain. I thought you'd be pleased to know!"

Zelgadis was glad to hear it, but uncomfortable with Xelloss' cheerful attitude.

"Just what do you plan to do once we get there?" he asked.

"Ah, well!" Xelloss shrugged. "I can't say for certain, of course. We'll see when we reach the plain, won't we!"

Zelgadis shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Just don't get in my way or try to keep me from getting to the Shrine," he said. Then another thought occurred to him. He glared at Xelloss so fiercely that the priest actually looked startled. "And, if your plan is to destroy The Shrine of Shimeria for some reason, I don't even care - just as long as I get what I need there first!"

"Oh, my! I don't know if it will come to that!" Xelloss said, as if the thought of such destruction had never occurred to him before. "Well, the Shrine is another day or two away, anyway. Perhaps, in that time, we will both find exactly what we need!"

Zelgadis snorted. He didn't want to ask what Xelloss could possibly need in the Valley of Shimeria.

They were on their way again quickly, and as Xelloss had said, they soon emerged from the woods onto a short, scrubby slope. All that remained of the road were a few paving stones overgrown with long grass, but the way before them was plain to see.

The stream they had been following joined a larger one at the bottom of the short slope, where the road crossed a bridge and then joined several others. A market town had grown up around this crossroads. Beyond that, their path became a wide highway leading almost straight across the plain. From the hillside where they stood, Zelgadis could see the second river glinting in the sun as it curved around a low hill in the distance. The road crossed that river by a wide stone bridge before entering the glittering city on the hill. A wall circled the hill, but it was pierced by many gates where other roads wound up to it from all directions.

"There it is indeed, the fabled Shrine of Shimeria," Xelloss said. He didn't exactly sound awed at the sight of it.

As he looked more closely, Zelgadis saw that even at this early time of day, all the roads were filled with traffic. Horses, carts, wagons, and pilgrims on foot came up the roads from the north and south that met at the bridge below. The market town was already full of the sounds of hawkers selling their wares, buyers haggling, and horses and donkeys braying. Travelers streamed along the high road, a steady stream of them both going toward the shrine and coming away from it.

"My, my, quite a busy place, isn't it?" Xelloss said, following his gaze.

"I didn't expect so many people," Zelgadis murmured. He felt a familiar discomfort, and reached for his scarf and hood. He hadn't bothered to wear them since he'd been traveling with Xelloss.

"I've heard that Shimer's popularity as a healer has grown a great deal recently," Xelloss said. "More people come here to be cured every day. Even the relics blessed at the shrine have great powers, or so people say. They're very much in demand these days and are being traded all across the land. They're quite highly prized by bandits, which surely proves their value!"

Zelgadis snorted, but it was true that bandits always knew what was hot on the market. It didn't mean the relics had real powers, though; only that many people believed they did.

"If the relics alone truly hold such powers of healing, Zelgadis, perhaps you can find your cure without even entering the shrine city itself," Xelloss suggested.

Staring across the plain, Zelgadis had half a mind to Ray-Wing himself across the valley, avoiding the crowds on the roads at least. But Xelloss' words made him reconsider. The market town was a mere ten-minute walk from where they stood.

"Anyway," Xelloss went on cheerfully, starting down the slope. "Everyone who comes here is afflicted with some horrible illness or curse. You'll just be part of the regular crowd in a place like this!"

Zelgadis hadn't considered that. He took another look at the traffic on the main road to the Shrine. Could all those people headed for the city on the hill be seeking cures for conditions as horrible as his? And more importantly, all those leaving - had they all found what they sought?

Zelgadis had been disappointed too many times to let hope rise too far in his heart. With a grim smile, he reminded himself that if something sounded too good to be true, it usually was. He'd soon find out, he thought, as he pulled his hood down over his face.

Xelloss had gone ahead of him but waited at the bridge. He'd been staring ahead down the road, but he turned and watched Zelgadis approach. His smile was even more unsettling than usual.

"What are you looking at me like that for?" Zelgadis asked sharply.

The smile seemed to drop away from Xelloss' face like a veil. "Pardon me, Zelgadis-san," he said. "I only wanted to remember you as you are. In case you really do find your cure here, that is, and become merely human again."

Xelloss turned away quickly and led the way across the bridge. Zelgadis stared after him a moment before following. This close to Shimeria and his goal, he no longer cared what Xelloss was up to, as long as it didn't get in his way. He wasn't going to let himself get distracted by the trickster now.

The steady stream of people coming up to the crossroads hardly spared a glance for two strange travelers coming down from the hills. One apple-cheeked farmwoman gave them a friendly wave as she drove her laden donkey onto the bridge. Zelgadis could only stare after her in surprise. Xelloss had paused again just before stepping out onto the main highway.

"Look there," Xelloss said, pointing down the main street of the marketplace. Zelgadis saw that he was pointing out a shop that was larger than the others around it. A banner hung over the door with an emblem that looked at first glance like an ornamental pitchfork. Three wavy blue lines met and entwined at the top, while at the end of each of the lines there was a loop shaped like a drop of water.

"The sign of the Three Rivers, the emblem of the birthplace of Shimer," Xelloss explained. "Most likely, that means the merchant sells the much sought-after relics of Shimer. As good a place to start your search as any other, I guess! Or would you rather look for a place to eat lunch first?"

"Who do you think I am, Lina Inverse?" Zelgadis said as he brushed past Xelloss and headed for the shop.

"Certainly not!" Xelloss laughed. He followed close behind as they stepped out into the Valley of Shimeria.

(to be continued...)

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Next: Zelgadis finds out more about Shimer and about why Mazoku don't hang out in the Valley of Shimeria. Can the Relics of Shimer really cure a chimera? Is Xelloss really planning to convert to a new faith? Are things ever going to heat up between these two? If you know me, you know the answer to one of those questions already!

For Kaworu's chapter 3 in Russian, including the illustration for the scene at the beginning of the chapter - look for kaworurenritsu at livejournal


	4. Chapter 4

**Poison 4 **

by: Tsutsuji

Date written: June-July, 2005

Rating for this chapter: PG13 - T

Disclaimers and other warnings in chapter 1

Thanks again to Lily Kalanoa for pointing out several typos and inconsistencies so that I could fix them!

Summary: Zelgadis reaches the fabled Valley of Shimeria, and does what any tourist would do - shops for souvenirs! Xelloss claims a surprising reason for wanting to visit the Shrine of Shimer, while Zel finds out there was more to Shimer than met the eye.

---

Poison, Chapter 4

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As soon as they stepped off the bridge, Zelgadis and Xelloss were surrounded by the most polite and friendly throng of people ever crowded into a market square. Instead of staring suspiciously at them or looking away quickly, every one they met smiled and greeted them.

"Lovely morning! Well met, my friends! Greetings, welcome!" they said, one after another. They were all kinds of people - young and old, well-dressed and shabby, dark skinned and fair - but all of them welcomed two more travelers into the steady stream of people coming into the square from the crossroads. Zelgadis was too startled to respond, but no one seemed to take offense at his silence. There were only two things that drew a few doubtful glances - the sword hanging at his side, and Xelloss' staff and priestly garb.

As Zel looked around curiously, he began to notice that many in the crowd appeared either ill or cursed. A young mother hurried by with a thin-limbed, sickly child wheezing in her arms. She nodded to those who greeted her in the usual friendly fashion, but her worried gaze was focused on the city in the distance. A little further on they passed a young man who was making slow progress through town because of the black fog that clung around his head and shoulders. He stopped every few feet to wave it away so he could see where he was going. Each time his face appeared for a moment he smiled and set his sights on the shrine, then continued on his way.

Many more people with various ailments hobbled or hurried along through the marketplace, while others wandered among the shops and stalls that lined the roadway. Zelgadis glanced at the items for sale, wondering if the healing relics could be so easily bought. He saw no sign of them, but there was nearly every other kind of merchandise available, from clothing to food to pottery, from gaudy trinkets to fine crafts. The only things he didn't see were weapons or magical items. That seemed odd in such a well-stocked marketplace.

As he looked around at the shoppers and the travelers, Zelgadis noticed something else that made him stop and stare in wonder. Only the people going in their direction were ill or cursed. Every single person coming toward them from the shrine city was glowing with health. The people passing along beside them wore expressions of hope and determination, but the ones coming back all smiled with pure joy.

Xelloss paused beside him. He nodded to those who greeted them with his usual cheerfulness, but he kept his head down so his eyes stayed hidden. It occurred to Zelgadis that in this place, the Mazoku had more to hide than he did. Xelloss seemed to know what he was thinking.

"It's much too fine a day for you to be bundled in your cloak and scarf, isn't it, Zelgadis-san? I don't think you have anything to fear from this crowd!"

Slowly, Zelgadis lowered the scarf that covered his face and let his hood fall back off of his wire-like hair. Nothing happened, except maybe the smiles that met him were more welcoming than before. He couldn't even imagine that they found his appearance amusing. The expressions on all of the faces, especially of those coming toward them, were only sympathetic and reassuring, as if to say, "My friend, you've come to the right place!"

While Zelgadis stood there with a smile of hope growing on his own face, they heard shouting and commotion from further along the street. He thought the peace of the town had been shattered by a fight, but instead, a ripple of happy excitement swelled through the crowd. The raised voices were coming closer, and everyone around them stopped to look.

Zelgadis could hardly believe what he saw coming toward them through the crowd. In the midst of a knot of people who were literally dancing with joy, he saw the same young mother who had passed them only a few minutes earlier. Her face was transformed with bliss, and it was no wonder. The child she raised high in the air for all to see was still thin, but his skin glowed with health, he laughed and crowed to the crowd, and his eyes sparkled.

The crowd parted and closed in again behind them as they danced away up the street, back to wherever they came from. They were leaving the Valley of Shimeria already, healed and happy.

"They never even went to the Shrine at all!" Zelgadis said. He turned to Xelloss. "The stories about the healing power of the relics must be true!"

Zel stopped short. Xelloss' face was locked in a grimace of a smile. To anyone else it might look cheerful, but Zelgadis knew better. He'd seen that same look before, when the Mazoku was under direct attack from Amelia chanting "Life is wonderful!" at him with all her considerable might.

"Oh, dear," he said with exaggerated concern. "Now I see why your people don't come here often! That's got to hurt." He couldn't help grinning.

Xelloss relaxed a little as the shouts of celebration faded away in the distance. The crowd around them returned to its former calm but happy state. Apparently such miracles happened so often that most folks took them in stride.

"Well, it's really not so bad," Xelloss said. "One could get used to it, I suppose. Anyway, if I'm not mistaken, that group came from the direction of the shop I pointed out earlier. Shall we pay it a visit and find out what the relics of Shimer can do for you?"

Zelgadis didn't bother to answer that in words. He spun around and started walking.

The shop was doing a brisk business, and a crowd had gathered by the door to discuss the healing they'd witnessed. Zelgadis passed under the swinging sign of the Three Rivers and entered the largest shop he had ever seen. People wandered among row after row of glass display cases. He hurried forward to find the relics, but paused in confusion after passing several rows that all held nothing but jewelry - glittering, gaudy, costume jewelry.

"What is all this?" he muttered, looking around for some sign of holy relics.

"Ah, yes," Xelloss said. He leaned over one of the glass-topped counters to gaze at a sparkling array of rings and brooches. "The fabulous Relics of Shimer!"

Zelgadis stared down at the gem-encrusted items, and then at Xelloss.

"You're joking," he said flatly. "These are supposed to be the healing relics?"

"Why, yes! Didn't you notice the lovely string of pink and yellow beads the child and mother were both wearing when they left?"

Zelgadis stared at him, expecting - hoping - that this was one of Xelloss' pranks.

"You're saying that this... this stuff has the power to cure whatever ailed that child?" Zelgadis sputtered in disbelief.

"Certainly! In fact, look over there... I think another miracle is about to happen!"

Zelgadis followed Xelloss' gaze across the room. A woman had come in who appeared to be afflicted with some kind of fire curse, or maybe it was the result of a spell gone wrong. She constantly slapped at her arms and legs, patting out the small fires that erupted from her skin.

A short, dark haired man hurried forward, bouncing on his toes and beaming at her as she gave him a quick explanation. He led her to a rack hung with all sorts of necklaces, and helped her pick one out. It was a chain of thick gold links with a pendent of orange and blue stones. Zelgadis knew he wasn't necessarily a great judge of fashion, but he was pretty sure it was ugly by most standards.

But the woman nodded, and the man fastened the clasp at the back of her neck. For a few seconds she kept on slapping out fires here and there automatically; it seemed to have become a habit. Then she raised her hand to put out the next one, but it didn't appear. After a few more seconds, a feeble flame broke out and fluttered like a torch running out of fuel. She patted that one out and waited for the next. There were no more.

The look of relief on her face was clear to see from all the way across the shop. She gave the startled but happy shopkeeper a hug before putting a large number of coins in his hand. Then she, too, danced away, her trip to the Valley of Shimeria over almost before it had begun.

While Zelgadis stood there with his eyes nearly popping out of his head, and Xelloss backed a step or two away from the happy scene, the shopkeeper stood beaming after his satisfied customer. Then he turned and scanned the room for more. He caught sight of Zelgadis, did a double take, and his eyes grew wide with excitement. He hurried over to them and stood before Zelgadis, bouncing on his toes. His smile was so wide that his eyes nearly disappeared behind round cheeks.

"Welcome, friends, to Tambor's Emporium, your first stop for everything you need here in the Valley of Shimeria! I am Tambor, proprietor of this humble establishment. I'm so glad you've come! If I may be of any assistance, don't hesitate to ask; I'm always pleased to do my small part to serve the Great Cause of Shimer! I can see that you've come a long way to seek the blessings of Shimer, my good sir," he said with an earnest smile at Zelgadis. "I'm only too glad to help in any way!"

Zelgadis stared at him. "You're not trying to tell me that all this... stuff has the power to heal illness and break powerful magical curses?"

"Why, it does indeed," Tambor said without a moment's hesitation. "Every item of adornment in this shop has been blessed at the Shrine with the power of Shimer, under the direct supervision of the Chief Shrine Keeper himself! In some cases, a single item is all it takes to bring back the pure glow of health and humanity to the afflicted! Of course, in some more complicated cases, it takes more time and the application of several relics to deal with the problem. But I've seen the most wonderful things happen right here in this very shop! Most people find the benefits are immediate, and well worth the price! Of course, all items carry our complete money-back guarantee!"

Zelgadis continued to stare at him in disbelief. Xelloss stepped up and spoke to Tambor.

"My friend is not familiar with the history of the Relics, I'm afraid," he said. "Perhaps you could explain it to him?"

Tambor looked at Xelloss uncertainly, taking in his robes and his staff with its red orb.

"Perhaps I should first ask what healing you seek here in Shimeria, Priest?" he said.

The question sounded polite enough, but Zelgadis sensed a challenge behind it. He wondered if the man had somehow realized Xelloss' true nature, and he tensed, expecting trouble to erupt.

"Ah," Xelloss replied in a mild voice. He gave Tambor a small bow. "I apologize for my appearance. You see, I'm a priest without a calling. You might say, I've lost my faith, and I've come to Shimeria seeking a new one. Those I once served no longer hear my prayers, and I no longer hear their voices. I wear these robes only as a snake waiting to shed his skin."

Zelgadis gaped at him, but the shopkeeper nodded in sympathy.

"I understand perfectly!" Tambor said. "You've come to be purified at the Holy Shrine and join the Followers of Shimer!"

Xelloss smiled with his head still bowed. "As Shimer said: 'Repent of all of the ways of magic, for Humans were not made to serve either gods or demons, but only to serve the Great Cause of Humanity itself!' I only regret that I did not understand the power of those words sooner."

"The Great Cause of Shimer!" Tambor echoed. He held out raised hands and his eyes closed briefly in a look of rapture.

"Indeed," Xelloss replied. "The Great Cause of Shimer."

Zelgadis glanced at him in surprise. He couldn't even detect any sarcasm hidden in Xelloss' voice.

"That's why you're here? To be purified at the shrine?" Zelgadis asked him. "You never said that."

He didn't believe for a second that Xelloss was planning to do anything of the kind, of course. He didn't think it would be wise to expose the lie to the fervent shopkeeper, though, at least not yet. He didn't want to provoke Xelloss into doing something destructive before he'd gotten what he came for, at any rate.

Xelloss managed to wink at him, revealing a glimpse of one slitted eye that Tambor couldn't see.

"Now you may understand why I urged you to come here as well, my chimera friend," Xelloss said, making Zel blink in surprise while Tambor beamed happily at both of them. "You will see the truth of what Shimer believed, that the power of the gods and the demons wanes, and Humanity will prevail. If you seek to be fully human, this is the place to come!"

"Ah, a chimera," Tambor said, looking Zel up and down as if giving him a professional assessment. He nodded wisely. "Yes, I see. Rock golem, and...?"

"Uh... Brow demon, actually," Zelgadis admitted. He shifted uncomfortably under Tambor's gaze.

"Dear me, yes, a difficult combination, to be sure, but I'm certain we have something in stock that will suit you perfectly!"

Zelgadis noticed for the first time that Tambor wore a full compliment of his own merchandise. Rings, bracelets, and pendants gleamed and jangled as he moved. He wore a thick collar made of many rows of glass beads - along with a touch of rouge and mascara.

Zel suddenly remembered a portrait of Shimer that he'd once seen. The great sage was all dressed in lace and ruffles, bedecked with every kind of jewel imaginable from the buckles of his shoes to the top of his head. Shimer had been quite the dandy of his time, which was part of the reason Zel had forgotten the stories of Shimer's crusade against the Mazoku until Xelloss mentioned it. He just hadn't looked the part.

Tambor searched through many cases, pulling various items out and considering them before shaking his head and tossing them back. Zelgadis watched him out of the corner of his eye but he turned to scowl at Xelloss.

"What was all that about?" he whispered. "Don't tell me you really did come here to be cured of being Mazoku!"

"Did I say that?" Xelloss replied, looking surprised.

"I only wish," Zelgadis muttered. "But I know better. What's all that Shimer said about not serving the gods, and repenting of all magic? Didn't he use white magic himself?"

"I'll explain that later, since you obviously didn't do your homework very well before coming here, Zelgadis-san," Xelloss said quickly. "But look - I think Tambor's found something for you already!"

Zel spared one more sharp glance at Xelloss before turning around to see what Tambor had come up with. He had to squint against the glare from all the jewelry Tambor had laid out on the counter. Xelloss nudged him and he stumbled forward until he stood staring down at the ensemble. His jaw dropped.

Gold and white enamel rings and bracelets, elaborate settings holding multi-colored stones, and a collar of glass beads that was even thicker than the one Tambor wore, were spread out over an entire countertop. It was enough to adorn several princesses at a royal wedding, and then some, Zelgadis thought, except no princess he'd ever met could be so tasteless as to wear all these things together. He'd rather wear a dress again than put all that stuff on!

Xelloss stood back and clapped his hands together. "How perfectly lovely! You'll look ravishing in all of that, Zelgadis-san!" he crowed.

"What? I don't..."

Before Zelgadis could finish his protest, Tambor clapped his hands twice, and a flock of shop assistants appeared and surrounded him. They went to work with professional enthusiasm, and soon Zel found himself decked out with jewels and glittering like a peacock.

He caught sight of himself in the full-length mirror Tambor produced. He could only gape in disbelief at the reflection. His arms were encased in jeweled bracelets and armbands, his hands heavy with many rings. Sashes of gold braid crossed his chest, and a white enameled belt with a huge buckle set with blue and orange stones was slung around his hips. Heavy pendants and the beaded collar hung around his neck. To top off the ensemble, a jeweled tiara was perched atop his wire-stiff hair.

He realized how much it looked like the jewelry Shimer had been wearing in the portrait he'd seen. But the tiara, at least, had suited Shimer, holding his tightly curled black hair away from his delicate face. On Zelgadis, it looked ridiculous.

"I don't think so," he said flatly.

Tambor bit his lip, but quickly hid his doubts.

"It suits you perfectly!" he cried. "As well it should. This is our finest reproduction of the blessed Relics of Shimer, purified at the Holy Shrine under the direct supervision of the Chief Shrine Keeper himself! An exact replica of the jewelry worn by Shimer when he battled the Mazoku hoards!"

"What? This?" Zelgadis held up an arm so heavy with jewels he didn't see how a normal man would be able to lift it. If he wasn't a chimera, he was certain he would have been floored by the weight of it all. "Shimer wore this into battle? I thought it was ceremonial!"

"Ah yes, I forgot - you don't know the history of the Relics, do you?"

Tambor walked around him, adjusting items here and there, while Zel stood and waited for something to happen. He could sense magical energy in the jewels, although he couldn't make out just what the spell was. But it felt like strong magic. He felt it trying to penetrate his stone body and his demon soul.

He stared harder at the reflection. Was anything changing? Would it happen all at once or gradually? He couldn't tell yet.

"Before this valley became famous as the birthplace of Shimer," Tambor said as he continued to circle Zelgadis, "it was known far and wide as the source of fine jewelry and adornments. Clay from the rivers, gemstones from the surrounding hills, and gold and silver from the mountains that border the plain to the south, were all brought here to be fashioned by the finest craftsmen the world has ever known. The jewels of Shimeria were sought after far and wide, worn by kings, queens, princesses, and all people of distinction.

"Naturally, when Shimer went forth on his crusade to ride the world of evil, he wore the products of his homeland proudly, even into battle with the monsters of darkness. The jewels of Shimeria gleamed with holy light, and his beads and bracelets rang like bells across the battlefield as he raised his sword and cast the demons back into darkness!"

Tambor stepped back and looked Zelgadis over. He reached up to smooth the beaded collar down over his tunic, making the beads rattle together with his touch. He stepped back and shook a handful of his own glass beads.

"In fact," he continued, "it is said that, even now, the most powerful Mazoku tremble at the jingling sound of Shimer's jewelry!"

Zelgadis glanced back at Xelloss, who was standing several feet away.

"Is that so?" he said. He rattled the beads again with a grin.

"So I've heard," Xelloss replied. Zelgadis thought his smile looked a little forced.

"Hmm," Zelgadis turned back to look at his reflection again. The outfit didn't actually look that bad, after all. "Maybe I do need to accessorize a little more!"

He'd attracted a small crowd of onlookers, obviously hoping to see the third miracle of the day in Tambor's shop. But they waited in vain. Nothing continued to happen, except that Zel felt the collar start to chafe against his pebbled skin. He turned this way and that, partly to look for any changes in his body, and partly to reconsider the look of the ensemble. He just couldn't decide if he liked it or not.

The crowd started to drift away, but several people complimented him on the outfit before they left. Only one man at the edge of the crowd studied him with more serious eyes, and seemed less expectant than the others.

Xelloss stood back at a discreet distance, watching the proceedings. Zelgadis kept expecting him to laugh out loud, but he seemed as curious as the others to see what would happen. Rattling his bracelets again, Zel thought he actually saw Xelloss flinch, but he wasn't sure.

Unfortunately, nothing else seemed to be happening at all. Zelgadis could sense the power emanating from the gold and gems. It was soothing; definitely a healing energy, but it didn't seem to be able to penetrate very deeply within him. He raised his eyebrows at Tambor.

Still looking hopeful, Tambor caught the eye of the man at the edge of the crowd.

"Ah, Chief Shrine-Keeper-sama! What do you think?"

The silver-haired man stepped forward, still studying Zelgadis thoughtfully. Zelgadis noticed that he wore a much simpler version of the bead collar, and a smaller version of the huge belt buckle over his silver tunic. After a long look at Zel, the man shook his head slowly.

"I regret to say that these ornaments, as beautiful and powerfully blessed as they are, will not produce the cure you need," he said, in a rich, deep voice. "I'm sorry, Tambor-san. My apologies to you as well, sir," he said to Zelgadis.

"Zelgadis-san, allow me to introduce Zuller-sama, Chief Shrine Keeper at the Shrine of Shimer," Tambor said quickly. "I believe he personally oversaw the blessing of these particular items; isn't that the case, Chief-Shrine Keeper?"

Zuller nodded with a smile and a humble tilt of his head. He had thick, silver-white hair and a face creased from smiling.

"In our duty in the Great Cause of Shimer, we imbued these beautiful items with our strongest blessing. But I'm afraid that there is only so much the blessed relics can do. As I'm sure Tambor-san mentioned, some problems can only be cured by entering the Shrine itself. I'm afraid that is the case with a curse such as yours," he said.

Tambor nodded. "I was afraid that might be so," he sighed. "But, it was worth a try!"

"Are you certain the relics can't heal me?" Zelgadis said. "I sense the healing power in them, it just seems to be working very slowly." He suddenly felt reluctant to remove the jewels, even though his common sense argued that there was no reason on earth to wear the gaudy things one second longer if they weren't going to change him back to human.

"Can you sense it?" Zuller took a step closer, studying Zelgadis more intently. "You are trained in magic; I should have realized. Shamanistic magic, for the most part?"

"Yes," Zelgadis answered, surprised at his assumption. After what Xelloss said earlier, he decided not to admit that he also knew a few spells of both white and black magic.

Zuller continued to study him, until Zelgadis felt his skin begin to prickle. Up close, Zuller's eyes were pale blue, like crystal, or clear water. Zel wasn't sure if he liked the earnest gleam in those eyes or not.

"No," Zuller said, shaking his head. "I'm afraid, Tambor-san, it will be best to save this wonderful ensemble for someone else in need of its healing power. A chimera can only be made human again at the Shrine of Shimer."

He waved to the shop assistants, and Tambor nodded in agreement. They carefully removed the items, clicking their tongues regretfully. Tambor patted each piece reverently as he put it away.

Although the jewels had been uncomfortable and ugly, Zelgadis felt like something was missing after they were gone. Disappointment started to sink in. He sighed, trying to recapture some of the hope he'd been feeling such a short time ago.

"Don't give up hope!" Zuller said. "You will be freed of this terrible curse soon! In the meantime, while you journey to the Shrine, I recommend a few simple ornaments, to help begin the healing process."

Zelgadis looked up at him. "Are you certain the Shrine can cure me?"

Zuller smiled. "Absolutely. The power of Shimer to restore humanity to the cursed is beyond any doubt. Come to the Shrine, and you'll see for yourself!"

Zelgadis pushed his disappointment aside and nodded. "That was my original plan, anyway," he said.

"Excellent, excellent! We'll be glad to welcome you when you arrive." He turned around and caught sight of Xelloss. "Your friend is welcome as well, if what I heard him say earlier is true. Those who turn away from false gods are most welcome at the Shrine," he said.

"I'm honored, Chief Shrine Keeper," Xelloss said, looking so humble that Zelgadis had to stifle laughter. "The gods are of no use at all, I've found. I'm most anxious to visit the crystal towers of the Shrine City."

"Then, I wish you a speedy journey. I have other business to attend to, or I would accompany you myself, but I hope I will be able to greet you in person when you arrive."

He turned back to Zelgadis. "It's less than a two day journey on foot through the valley. You can reach the next town by nightfall, and be at the city late the following day, but there's no need to hurry! Enjoy the hospitality of our valley. It's a very safe road; you won't need your weapon, and they're forbidden within the Shrine itself, anyway. But, Tambor," he said, turning to the shopkeeper, "please find something gentle yet effective from your inventory for Mr. Zelgadis, to begin his healing journey - and put it on our tab!"

Tambor smiled widely and bowed. "Certainly, Zuller-sama!" he said. He started picking through a case of enameled bracelets.

Zuller turned to go with a wave of his hand. "Pleasant journey!" he called as he left the shop.

"Thank you," Zelgadis said, eyeing Xelloss suspiciously. "I hope it will be, but I doubt it."

Xelloss came over and watched as Tambor found a simple bracelet made of several loops of colored beads. It was like a small replica of Shimer's beaded collar. Zel put it on and shook it experimentally, listening to the soft clattering sound it made. Xelloss grimaced at him, but Zel suspected that he was just putting on a show for his benefit. He took the bracelet anyway, and Tambor sent them on their way with his best wishes for a complete cure.

They stepped back out into the stream of people and turned their steps toward the shrine. The sun had just started to drop toward the ridge they'd left the morning before, and the city ahead seemed to waver in the heat waves rising from the plain. Zelgadis felt his hopes wavering as well.

"A pity that the relics didn't work for you, Zelgadis-san," Xelloss said as they left the market town.

"You knew that would happen," Zelgadis accused him under his breath, while nodding at a passing man who greeted them with a smile.

"On the contrary, I had every expectation that the relics would heal you. The power that made you is stronger than I realized. But, the good part of it is, it means we're still traveling together!"

Zelgadis sighed. "I suppose we are, whether I like it or not. At least this way I have a chance of finding out what you're up to."

Xelloss looked hurt. "Does that mean you don't enjoy my company as much as I enjoy yours, Zelgadis-san? How disappointing!"

Zel glared at him, but couldn't bring himself to lie outright. The truth was, the bland cheeriness of these people was starting to get on his nerves a little, and he felt he would rather have Xelloss for company than Zuller with his earnest friendliness. But he wasn't about to admit that to Xelloss.

He even started to feel a little sorry for Xelloss, being bombarded with all these happy feelings from every side. If it was making him feel a little twitchy, Xelloss must feel downright ill from it. He did seem to be plodding along without the usual bounce in his step, Zel noticed.

Feeling foolish, Zelgadis quietly slipped the bracelet off his wrist into his bag. The beads scraped against his skin uncomfortably, anyway, like glass scratching slate. In fact, everything about Shimer was starting to annoy him, from his fervent, happy followers to his horrid fashion sense. The trip to the shrine had better be worth it.

"Let's just get there and get it over with," he muttered.

Xelloss fixed his gaze on the distant city with a grim smile. "I agree completely," he said.

---

to be continued...

Next: Zelgadis rides a roller coaster of hope and frustration when he finds out that all is not as it seems in the idyllic Valley of Shimeria. And Xelloss isn't having such a great day, either!


	5. Chapter 5

**Poison 5  
**

by: Tsutsuji

Date written: June-July, 2005. minor edits 8/06

Rating for this chapter: T

Disclaimers and other warnings in chapter 1

Summary: The plot thickens and the UST increases! Zelgadis finds a little hope and a lot of frustration as his search for a cure continues. And Xelloss isn't having such a great day, either.

---

Poison, chapter 5

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The crowed thinned after Zelgadis and Xelloss left the market town, but even so, a steady stream of traffic filled the high road. Most of it consisted of pilgrims on their way to the Shrine, with a smaller stream of those who had already been healed going back the other way. Occasionally a cart rolled by carrying those who were unable to walk. Zelgadis now saw that most people wore at least a bracelet or a pendant in Shimer's style. A few had spent a lot of time shopping and managed to look even more outrageous than Shimer himself.

The land was flat and open between the hills and the Shrine city, with narrow strips of farmland where canals brought water from the rivers. Beyond that, there was nothing but grey prairie stretching into the distance. Beside the road numerous signs and posters advertised Relic sellers all over the valley.

"Miracle Cures!" read the words on the posters in large, ornamental letters. "Most Amazing Results Ever! Quick and Effective! Available Exclusively At Our Store While Supplies Last!"

Some of the posters contained testimonials from the fortunate ones who had been cured at a particular shop; many of them gave lurid details that Zelgadis cringed to read. "Before" and "After" pictures appeared on some of them as well, with the inevitable smiling faces of the "Afters."

"Just think," Xelloss said, reading one of these over Zel's shoulder, "Your face could appear soon on a poster just like this!"

Zelgadis imagined his stone face frowning from one of these signs, with a beaming, human face next to it. He wanted that human face, but he couldn't imagine himself with one of those goofy grins, no matter how human he was.

"No, thank you," he said, grimacing at the advertisements. He tried to ignore them completely after that, even though that left only his happy-faced fellow travelers to look at. It was either them or the barren landscape.

Half a mile away to their left Zelgadis saw a strip of green land that even included a few trees. They grew along a path and a canal that ran parallel to the main road. Occasionally, he saw a cart pulled by donkeys plodding along that path, and small barges pulled by oxen passed by on their way toward the market town and the first river.

"That's the low road, apparently," Xelloss said, following his gaze. "The tradesman's route, I expect, leaving the high road open for travelers."

A couple walking nearby nodded. "Yes, that's right," the man said. "That's the way the jewels are brought to market, so I've heard. In the old days, they say this road was only traveled by royalty and rich merchants, and everyone else used the canal roads. The Drover's Road, they call it."

The woman looked wistfully at the trees that grew here and there along the canal while she mopped the sweat off her neck. "At least there's a bit of shade over there," she said.

The man patted her hand. "We'll be at Midtown soon, and get a nice cold drink at the inn," he said. "And then, we'll search the shops in town for the relic that will allow us to have a family at last!"

The woman's eyes lit up, in spite of the heat. The couple smiled at each other lovingly, cuddling close together while they walked. Xelloss scooted around to the other side of Zelgadis, away from them.

Zelgadis didn't quite manage to hide his laughter. Xelloss gave him a sidelong glance and then focused his attention on the road ahead. The couple strolled along at a dreamy pace, and Zel and Xelloss soon left them far behind.

Zelgadis saw many other travelers fan themselves or mop their sweating brows, but even suffering from the heat didn't stop them from being happy. He couldn't feel the sun beating down as they did, but he began to feel the glare of their smiles hitting him like a heat wave. Xelloss looked like he was wilting.

"Would you like to borrow my cloak? Maybe the hood would help protect you," he said, only half jokingly.

"Very thoughtful of you to offer, Zelgadis-san," Xelloss replied. "I'm trying to build up a resistance - like getting a tan, in a way!"

He favored Zel with a glimpse of a violet eye, grinning at his own joke. Zelgadis returned a crooked smile and hurried along.

Even with Xelloss looking like he was swimming upstream, they moved along faster than most of the other traffic on the road. By mid-afternoon they started to pass shops and houses again, and before they knew it, they were passing through a low stone wall that marked the boundary of Midtown.

Midtown was much larger than the market village at the crossroads; its tall buildings stretched far along the wide main street. A row of fountains shimmered in the middle of the road. On either side, inns with elaborate facades worthy of Shimer's style lined the road. Even more dazzling fountains danced in the courtyards of many of them. Moving lights glimmered magically around the signs on the front of the inns, highlighting names like Jewel of the Valley, Starlight Inn, and The Rivers. Porters hovered near the doorways, eager to escort travelers inside, and relics were sold on every corner.

The streets became crowded again, and the people here seemed even more energetically cheerful than before. They didn't just greet each other, they met and talked like old friends, comparing stories of their journey so far and miracles they'd witnessed.

Walking up the street and craning their necks at the ever more elaborate inns, Zelgadis and Xelloss soon noticed that many eyes turned to them with excited glances. People nodded to each other, even pointing at them excitedly.

"Just as I expected," Xelloss said happily. "They _like_ you here, Zelgadis-san! It appears that your reputation has preceded you to Midtown."

"Reputation? What are you talking about? What are _they_ talking about?"

Some of the relic sellers started waving at them as soon as they came in sight. Merchants gestured wildly and danced outside the doors of their shops, trying to lure them inside.

"Special today on curse-breaking amulets!" one of them cried like a carnival barker. "Best restorative relics in the Valley right here!" cried a rival across the street. They looked like they were going to pop a blood vessel or two in their efforts to get Zel's attention. They got the attention of the crowd, at least. More people paused to watch him walk by, smiling expectantly.

"Obviously," Xelloss continued, "you're one of the most noticeable and challenging cases the valley has seen. Probably news of what happened at Tambor's shop and word of your personal invitation from the Chief Shrine Keeper has already spread among the hopeful. If Shimer's power can cure a chimera like you, surely it can cure the simple afflictions of these poor souls! That must be what they're hoping for, at any rate. You've become quite a celebrity, and I expect you'll be even more famous once you're human again. And of course, every seller of relics wants to be the one who can put your face on his advertising brochures!"

"I don't want to be famous," Zel muttered uncomfortably. "I just want to be human." He was quickly finding that it was not much better to be stared at with eager, friendly eyes than it was to be stared at with disgust. He felt like a freak in a sideshow, with the audience waiting for him to perform some trick for their amusement. The desperation of the relic sellers was embarrassing.

"Let's get off this main street," he said. "These inns all look too... expensive, anyway. There must be other places to stay the night in this town."

"Perhaps this will help," Xelloss said.

He was leaning forward on his staff and peering at a cluster of signposts pointing in all directions. Zelgadis saw that the dozens of signs gave the names of inns and shops all over Midtown. He looked up and down the posts, baffled by the number of choices. Finally one caught his eye, mainly because it looked so much simpler than the others.

"Kari's Inn and Restaurant," it said in plain lettering. "Quiet, restful location with canal frontage. Traders welcome. Home-cooked food, private baths, reasonable rates."

From the directions given on the sign, it looked like the place was about as far off the High Road as they could get and still be in Midtown. At least there would be fewer people to stare at him, and he didn't think Xelloss would object to getting out of the crowd for a while. He could always come back quietly later to see if the relic sellers actually had anything worth buying.

It took nearly half an hour, including getting lost once in the narrow streets behind the great inns, but when they finally found the place there was no mistaking it. Kari's Inn sat comfortably on a strip of open land beyond the clustered buildings of the town, a little bit of countryside that had crept across the canal and planted itself inside the city limits. The country style inn offered no lighted signs or dancing fountains in the courtyard and, more importantly, no swarms of smiling faces. A sign hung over the door that faced toward Midtown, but the main entrance was on the other side of the building, toward the Drover's Road.

As they approached, a young woman hurried around the corner of the building carrying a basket of carrots from a kitchen garden, grumbling under her breath and too busy to notice them. A moment later, a man in workman's clothes stomped down the steps and barely even glanced at them as he passed. He smelled of wine and garlic.

"Well, what do you know," Zel said. "There's another side to the Valley of Shimeria after all."

"How very refreshing," Xelloss said. He smiled with relief and leaned heavily on his staff. He did look worn out, but Zelgadis was certain he was exaggerating his weariness.

"You're starting to look your age, Xelloss," he said with a grin as he led the way through the door.

Kari, the innkeeper, was a bustling woman with a toddler riding on her hip, both of them cheerful in the ordinary way of country innkeepers. She led them up the stairs, apologizing that she only had one room available, but it was the best in the place. Xelloss slowly plodded up behind them. Kari opened the door to a room with windows that looked down on the placid canal and the Drover's Road. The large, plain room had two beds, Zelgadis noted, far apart on either side of the door.

Kari opened the windows wide so Zelgadis could admire the view. While they were standing there looking at the tree-lined path, they heard a thump, the creak of springs, and a loud sigh. They turned to see Xelloss lying flat out on one of the two beds, looking limp as a dishrag.

"Is your friend okay?" Kari asked with a worried glance at Zelgadis.

Xelloss lifted a limp hand and wagged his fingers at them in a "not to worry!" gesture.

Zelgadis sighed. "He'll be fine, I suppose. He's just had a rather difficult day."

"Oh, well, then," Kari took another doubtful look at Xelloss before turning back to Zelgadis. "Inns uptown all full, are they?" she said.

"Er, we didn't check, actually," Zelgadis said. "We just prefer quieter surroundings."

"Well, you'll find it pretty quiet here - unless Duglas comes in and starts moaning about the price of peas and his ungrateful wretch of a daughter, and gets someone to buy him too many drinks! He can go on at the top of his voice for hours. Anyway, this is the only room I've got, if you care to take it. Lots of bargemen passing through right now. They're all trying to beat the canal fees that go up again next week."

Kari frowned and shook her head. "I don't know what the Council is thinking, raising the fees for traders like that again, second time in a year, and the irrigation rents going up as well. Farmers can't afford to water their fields, but the fancy inns uptown have all the water they need for their fancy fountains! Pff! Sometimes I think that Council forgets that we all have to make a living around here, not just the relic sellers and the folks who live off the Shrine. 'Wealth trickles down like water through the rocks,' they like to say, meaning what's good for the Shrine is good for us all, but sometimes I don't know if they remember where their food comes from!"

She wrinkled her face in disgust, then stopped and laughed when her little girl tried to copy her sour expression.

"Don't mind me," she said to Zelgadis. "Grumbling about the Council is one of the ways we amuse ourselves around here. No fancy entertainment like you'd get uptown, I'm afraid!"

She turned around when they heard bedsprings creak again. Xelloss was now bouncing on the edge of the other bed, testing the spring of the mattress. He'd gone from looking like a one thousand year old man to looking like a kid in a candy shop.

"Don't mind him, either," Zelgadis said in response to her startled look. "He's just... easily entertained."

A few minutes later, Xelloss followed him to the dining room where he was served a meal that would not have disappointed Lina Inverse herself - except she would have put away three or four servings in the time it took Zel to savor the first course. Xelloss nibbled daintily and sipped his usual cup of tea, but Zelgadis guessed he got more refreshment from listening to the locals complain about the Council than he would have from a five-course dinner at one of the fancy inns "uptown."

The other patrons in the bar and dining room appeared to be bargemen and folks from the surrounding farmland. Zel risked going without his hood and scarf into the dining room, but he only got a few curious looks, with no rabid friendliness or hostility. They seemed to recognize him as just another pilgrim seeking a cure at the Shrine.

However, Xelloss caught more of their interest. Zel left his sword in the room with spells of protection on it, but Xelloss carried his staff with him. Several of the local folk raised their eyebrows, eyeing the red orb on his staff and the jeweled clasp of his cloak. They obviously knew those weren't the relics of Shimer that he wore.

Two women sitting at the bar nearby eyed them for a moment, and then began to whisper together over their drinks. They weren't so quiet that Zelgadis couldn't hear them with his extra-sensitive ears.

"A pair of sorcerers, looks like! What could they be doing in Shimeria?" said the woman with sun-streaked red hair.

"Not sorcerers," her companion answered. She had a round face with quick eyes, and, Zelgadis guessed, sharp ears for gossip. "The dark-haired one, he's a priest!"

"A priest!" the blonde said. "Well, that's a refreshing sight around here these days."

Her companion shook her head. "I heard talk from uptown about these two, from my friend who's a waitress up at The Rivers," she said. "They're on their way to the Shrine, of course. The stony-looking one is under some Black Magical curse, they say. Tried the best relics Tambor has to offer, they say, but it didn't help him any, so he's on his way to the Shrine by special invitation of the Keepers."

Zelgadis hid his face behind his hand so they wouldn't see he was eavesdropping on them, but he could feel them stealing glances at him over their shoulders.

"Pfsh, Tambor!" said the blonde dismissively. "He could do better than that right here in Midtown, if it's Relics he needs. Still... I don't know what his hurry is. I kind of like the way he looks now..."

Zelgadis ducked his head further, feeling his face flush with embarrassment. Judging by the beaming smile on Xelloss' face, he'd overheard their talk as well. Zelgadis glared at him.

"And the priest," the second woman went on confidentially, "Now, he's a nice looking young man, isn't he? Well, he's going along up to the City as well, they say. He's going to renounce his priesthood and rededicate himself at the Shrine!" She shook her head regretfully. "As if the world needs one more Follower of Shimer!"

Zelgadis blinked in surprise. So, not everyone in the valley was a fanatical follower of Shimer after all. That was interesting news. He caught Xelloss' eye.

"That's a load of crap, isn't it?" he said politely. "You, becoming a Follower of Shimer?"

"Of course it is! I'm only here to accompany you on your journey and help you find your cure! Why else would I be traveling through this beautiful valley among all these wonderful people we've met on the road!"

Zelgadis snorted. "Why do I ever bother to ask you a question? But that reminds me. What was all that talk back there in Tambor's shop about the gods and white magic? You said you'd explain all that. Not that I expect anything you tell me to make any sense."

"Ah, yes, that does need explaining, doesn't it?" Xelloss leaned forward and spoke softly. "Not many people realize that Shimer hated White magic, which calls on the power of the gods, as much as he hated Black magic. He lost quite a lot of followers when he said publicly that Ceiphied was no better than Shabranigdo!"

Zelgadis felt his mouth drop open. "He did? You're not joking?"

Xelloss held a finger to his lips and glanced meaningfully at the others sitting nearby. He went on even more quietly.

"It's the truth, but his followers in recent years haven't spoken openly about it. Shimer believed with his whole heart that humans should not depend on anyone but themselves, and that calling on the power of the gods was just as evil as calling on the power of demons. If you ask one of your Dragon friends, you'd find that they don't care for Shimer either. He even said that they are no better than Monsters themselves! Of course, you can imagine what an insult they took that to be."

Xelloss chuckled quietly. "Well, most humans agreed with him about the evil monster race, but there are many, many followers of that... ahem, of the admirable Ceiphied and the Dragon Lords, who felt offended by his attitude toward their gods. Shimer's popularity plummeted for a while, in spite of his reputation for healing. Construction was halted on the crystal city being built here in honor of his birth, due to the lack of donations. For years, Shimer couldn't draw a crowd in a marketplace.

"That was the situation until he began to wage his embarrassingly successful campaign against the Mazoku, culminating in the great battle at Demonend. That battle made his reputation as a hero - one with a peculiar flare for fashion, as you've seen. But then, a few years later, he managed to get himself killed by a Mazoku, in spite of his great powers."

Xelloss smirked and Zel caught a glimpse of one violet eye. "It would be ironic, wouldn't it," Xelloss said in his low voice, "if Shimer, the great champion of Humanity, was actually killed by Gaav, the one Mazoku with a partly human soul?" He sat back with a smug grin and took another sip of his tea before continuing his tale.

"After that, in the next few decades, Shimer's followers discovered that relics purified at his shrine still had the power to heal humans, and with that they began to rebuild his reputation. He's made such a comeback in the last few years that even you heard of him in your wanderings, which I presume is what led you here to seek your cure. But Shimer swore that his healing powers did not come from White magic, like the power your friends Amelia and Sylphiel use. He said, and his followers will swear to you, that the healing power of Shimer is the power of Humanity itself."

Zelgadis regarded him thoughtfully for a few minutes, digesting this unexpected news.

"And I presume this all has something to do with your own purpose in coming here?" he said. "Is this supposed power of Humanity to heal ourselves something that the Mazoku are worried about?"

Xelloss shrugged. "If such power existed in humans, it might be worth investigating. But, no, I can tell you that that's not why I'm here."

"You don't believe that Shimer discovered some new form of healing magic, do you?"

Xelloss shrugged again. "Let's just say, I haven't yet seen any evidence of it. Have you seen the power of Shimer accomplish anything yet that Rezzo couldn't have done with White magic?"

Zelgadis shivered at the mention of the Red Priest who had made him a chimera. "Not yet. But I hope to soon, because it will take a power at least as great as Rezzo's to make me human again."

He looked away from Xelloss, remembering the magical energy he'd felt emanating from the relics he'd worn. The power to undo what Rezzo had done to him could be here, if only he could find it. It didn't matter to him where it came from, as long as it made him human again.

"Well, then," Xelloss said, stretching back in his chair with his cup of tea. "You heard what our friends over there at the bar said, I assume? The quality of relics in this town may be much higher than the stuff in those shacks along the road. Perhaps you should visit the shops in town before continuing on to the Shrine? Of course, Tambor claimed to have the best relics in the valley, and the Chief Shrine Keeper himself agreed. On the other hand, I suppose Zuller might have wanted you to come to the Shrine for the publicity it would bring there. Just think of the scene that will be! The reputation of Shimer's power will grow even greater, and draw even more seekers to the Valley of Shimeria!"

Zelgadis thought of it, and it filled him with horror. The habit of being shy of crowds went deeper than his stone skin, and the idea of being paraded in public as an advertising stunt was unsettling, to say the least.

He scowled at Xelloss. "But you don't think it will happen, do you? I suppose it would amuse you a great deal if I reached the Shrine only to expose the fact that Shimer's power is not so great after all!"

Zelgadis felt as if someone had touched off a light spell in his mind. He sat forward suddenly, leaning across the table toward Xelloss.

"That's it, isn't it? The whole reason you've come with me? To discredit Shimer and halt the spread of his cult when his power fails to cure me?"

"Why would you think that!" Xelloss said, backing away with an expression of innocent surprise.

"Because you're... " He stopped short, suddenly aware that their voices had become loud enough for those with normal ears to overhear. He dropped to a hissing whisper. "Because you're a lying, conniving, manipulative bastard, that's why!"

"Do you really think I'm as bad as all that? All I said was that I don't believe Shimer found any new form of magic in the power of humans. I didn't say his power isn't real at all. On the contrary, if you insist on pursuing this foolish quest to be human again, I think you've come to exactly the right place. But you felt the power in those jewels you wore for a while at Tambor's shop. What did you think of it, Zelgadis-san? Did it feel like White magic to you, or like something else?"

Zelgadis stared at him in frustration. As usual, the more innocent and sensible Xelloss sounded, the more he felt like he was being led astray. But he did remember the strong magic in the relics, and his sense that the cure would work if given time.

"I don't know. It seemed unusual in some way, but..."

"You looked as though you thought it might succeed, until the Shrine Keeper convinced you otherwise," Xelloss reminded him.

Zelgadis remembered his disappointment, and his reluctance to remove the relics when he could feel so much power in them, even as ugly as they were. Tambor had resigned himself to agreeing with Zuller, without pushing for the sale. But what if the shrine had some arrangement with this well-known shopkeeper to bring certain customers to the shrine instead, where their cure would be more dramatic? That would bring more people to the valley and be better business for both of them in the long run. Was that all he was to these Relic sellers and Shrine Keepers - a potential poster child for the power of Shimer?

"Damn, Xelloss! Talking to you only makes me think in circles!"

He stood up and stalked away from the dining room. On the porch that faced the canal he paused and tried to collect his thoughts. It still made sense to him that Xelloss would go to all this trouble just to ruin Shimer's reputation. Why else would he keep pushing Zelgadis to try the Relics again, especially when he claimed to prefer him in his present form, unless he thought the cure would fail dramatically in full view of an audience?

He wondered also why he should care if Zuller wanted the publicity from curing him. If the cure was real after all, it would be worth it, and besides, he didn't know for certain that Zuller had any such thing in mind. That idea came from the trickster priest's deceptive lips, although Zel couldn't figure out why Xelloss would want him to doubt the Shrine Keeper.

It occurred to him that Xelloss might only be trying to raise his frustration level as an antidote to the happiness he'd been exposed to all day. He no longer felt much sympathy for the Mazoku's discomfort. This was no different than the way he'd kissed Zelgadis awake in order to make him angry the morning before...

He immediately wished he hadn't thought of that. He'd been so distracted by the possibility of finding his cure that he'd managed to forget that moment, but now it came back to him with far too much clarity. He closed his eyes against the image, and tried to decide which was worse: a battle of words that he was bound to lose, or being teased with feelings he'd rather not have at all.

He stared across the canal to the endless flat lands beyond, where late afternoon shadows stretched from the Haunted Ridge toward the Shrine City. He tried not to remember that moment on the ridge, and the spark of heat he'd felt from that one brief touch. But of course, right on cue, Xelloss came through the doorway and stopped beside him. Zelgadis did his best to ignore him, until finally Xelloss spoke in a quiet voice.

"My apologies for unsettling you, Zel-"

Zelgadis snapped. That soft-voiced apology that could only be a lie was the last thing he could stand. He turned and grabbed Xelloss by the front of his shirt, spun around, and shoved him back against the wall.

"Don't apologize to me, damn you!" he snarled in Xelloss' face. "Just tell me what's going on!"

Xelloss said nothing. His eyelids lifted, only a little, and his lips curled up in a smile. For a second that smile distracted Zelgadis. He suddenly remembered just how dangerous Xelloss really was.

Then Xelloss' hand came up in front of his face, first finger raised. Zelgadis gritted his teeth and twisted his hands in the priest's shirt. No matter what Xelloss was, he would blast him through this wall if he said what Zel knew he was going to say. But instead, Xelloss placed his finger against Zel's lip and traced it with a feather-light touch.

Just as he'd done the morning before, Zelgadis froze in shock at the intimate touch, and at the flush of warmth that shot through his body in response to it. He was suddenly, terribly aware of the solid feel of Xelloss' body under his hands, and against his hips where Zelgadis had pinned him back against the wall. He had to fight the urge to pull Xelloss forward and press their lips together again.

Instead, he pushed Xelloss back, hard, listening to his head hit the wall with a satisfying crack. Zelgadis spun away without waiting to see his reaction and jumped from the porch.

He was around the corner and across the yard before he knew he'd decided to move. He stalked away into the maze of narrow streets as fast as he could go without breaking into a run. Within minutes he was lost again, but that suited him perfectly. All that mattered for the moment was getting as far away from Xelloss as possible.

He half expected Xelloss to come after him, or to suddenly appear hovering in the air in front of him, smiling in his smug way - right before he opened his eyes wide and blasted Zelgadis to dust for slamming him against the wall. He would prefer being blasted to being touched like that again; it would be so much simpler that way.

But the Mazoku didn't appear, and eventually Zel forced himself to slow down to a walk and get a grip on his emotions. Xelloss wouldn't use his powers here in the Shimeria valley, he realized, at least not while he still had some secret mission to complete - and especially not if he needed Zelgadis to help complete that mission.

That was what bothered him the most, besides the rush of sensation and feelings that Xelloss' touch had stirred in him: the idea that he was just a pawn in some scheme that Xelloss had dragged him into. Unfortunately, though, he couldn't pretend to himself that the urge to kiss Xelloss was some part of the Mazoku's scheme. It may have been awakened by Xelloss' attempt to distract or anger him, but the desire had been lurking inside him all along.

If only the Relics would work as advertised, he thought, not only to cure him but also to keep the Mazoku away. Then he could leave this Valley and be free of Xelloss and his schemes, and start to live a normal life at last. He fingered the bracelet on his wrist and let the beads roll over his pebbled skin, wishing their magic would work on him. At least the soft clicking sound they made helped distract him from his thoughts and calm his storm of emotions.

Zelgadis slowed to a stroll as he wandered through streets which were much more quiet and peaceful in this part of town. There was a walled garden behind one of the great inns, where a shallow pool reflected the drooping branches of a tree in flower. He stopped and let the calm of the place flow over him while the knotted thread of the questions in his mind unraveled.

He decided it didn't really matter if Zuller used his cure to bring more people to the valley, after all. More people would be cured of their problems, more curses broken, if Zelgadis served as a shining example of the power of Shimer. There would be even more joyful faces returning from the Shrine, more miracles happening in shops all along the way.

With his mind becoming clear, a feeling of hope returned. Zelgadis started to feel the joy of it as if he'd already found his cure, as if he was fully human again, with no demon to darken his emotions. He even began to imagine returning to his friends as the man they'd never seen, and how happy they would be for him. He would tell them all about the wonderful power of Shimer and his healing Relics. In fact, before he left, he'd be sure to pick up some souvenirs for each of them, perhaps some bracelets like this one he wore.

He sat on a bench in the garden and watched his fingers play over the glass beads. He realized he was smiling with his renewed sense of hope, thinking of sharing his good fortune with his friends. His smile grew so broad that his stone skin felt like it would crack open and let his human face show through.

Zelgadis wasn't used to feeling this sense of peace or to smiling like this. It was actually... painful. The smile burned his face, and his fingers twitched and stung as if he'd stuck his hand in a nest of bees.

The demon part of him must be reacting to the spell of healing on the bracelet, he thought suddenly. The dark inside of him started to rise like a cold rage, and he tried to thrust it back with his human side. He touched the beads again, trying to grasp the contentment he'd felt a moment ago, but it was slipping away. It felt like fire ants were crawling up inside his skin, and the sound of the beads clattered on his ears like claws scratching glass.

Zelgadis clamped his hand down over the bracelet to make it quiet. It burned his stone flesh with cold fire. In a panic he tore it off and would have flung it away, but stopped. He wanted to get it off of him, but he couldn't let it go.

He realized he was panting with the struggle between the demon side of him and the lure of the bracelet. He stared at the beads dangling from his fingers, amazed at their power. He'd only been wearing them for a little while and already they had begun to tear the three aspects of his nature apart.

The beads shimmered with an inner glow like sunlight on water, as if they'd been activated by the struggle. As he watched it swirl, feeling it with his shamanic senses, he suddenly realized that he couldn't remember putting the bracelet on again. He'd taken it off on the road and left it in his bag. How had it gotten back on his wrist? A shiver ran up his spine; he was certain he hadn't put the thing back on by choice.

"What kind of healing magic is this?" he wondered aloud.

His senses were trained to detect subtle energy in the spirit realm, so he let them weave their way between the forces pushing and pulling his hand, between the magic in the beads that made him want to cling to them and the magic inside his body that wanted to throw them far away. Underneath those spells there were others, twined around each other like the swirls of colored glass within the beads themselves. There was something disturbing about the way they were layered together and then disguised as one single spell.

Even though he held the thing at arm's length between his fingertips, he began to see tendrils of magic reach out to encircle his arm and try to burrow into his stone flesh. His shamanic senses started to sort out the spells that were layered into the beads.

There was one that made the bracelet attractive to a buyer's eye, a simple spell that any unscrupulous merchant might use on inferior goods. Another spell enhanced feelings of well being; it was one that was sometimes added to healing spells to calm the victim. Just sensing that one made him want to smile and stop worrying about anything. He let the demon part of him fend that spell off so he could continue his study.

Remembering what Xelloss had said about Shimer, he searched for magic that was completely unfamiliar. That would be the new power Shimer had discovered, if it existed. But all he could find were spells to make the bracelet irresistible and spells to promote feelings of hope and happiness. Woven among them was one very powerful but very ordinary White Magic spell of healing

Zelgadis sat back on the bench and stared at the thing in disbelief. Under all the glitz and glitter, this wonderful Relic of Shimer was nothing but a common talisman that any trained sorcerer could make. The way they were woven together was unique, and the combination of spells made it feel powerful, but it was all a deception.

Yet everything he sensed in this one bracelet could explain all that he'd seen in Shimeria so far. Healing spells could be embedded in jewels, especially certain stones and metals, strong enough to heal a sick child. Others could break a curse of fire or counteract a spell gone wrong. And certainly, ornaments drenched in these enchantments would bring infectious smiles to the wearers' faces, affecting even those who weren't wearing them. A whole crowd of people touched by these spells even at a distance would soon be dancing in the streets, no matter what was happening around them. Add a few miraculous cures and the result would be irresistible.

Obviously, it was effective. With these relics worn everywhere in the Valley, and carried out into the rest of the world, it was no wonder Shimer's popularity was growing by leaps and bounds. But it wasn't real. It was just ordinary magic. The great and wonderful healing power of Shimer was nothing but a fraud.

Zelgadis dropped the beads into the ground with a snarl and crushed them into dust. Hope died as the power of the spells flickered out of existence. Anger welled up in its place. Zuller knew of this, whether the merchants did or not. The Shrine Keeper didn't even need to prove that the chimera had been cured; just having him here got people excited, and rumor would do the rest, no doubt enhanced by a few posters - after all, any artist could draw him as a human. Zuller could say that he'd been cured at the Shrine, and that would be all it took.

And Xelloss, of course, must have known this all along. Zuller would lure him to the shrine, pretend to have cured him, and then Xelloss would make sure the truth was revealed, discrediting Shimer and the Keepers as the frauds they were. It was a perfect scheme on both sides. All it had needed was him.

Zelgadis wanted to kill both of them, but he supposed he'd better start with Zuller, since he didn't stand much of a chance against Xelloss. Anyway, he thought with a savage grin, why not let Xelloss go ahead and destroy the Shrine, if that's what he intended to do. It would put an end to the lie of Shimer and stop Zuller's schemes.

Zelgadis stood, grinding his heel one more time into the shards of the bracelet, and turned to leave the garden. He'd decide what to do next on his way back to the inn, whether to tell Xelloss what he'd discovered or simply take his things and leave the Valley. Either way, his search here was over.

He stopped when he sensed someone standing under the hanging boughs of the tree by the pool. The man stepped into view, but he already knew who it was before he saw the white hair and the smiling face.

"Zuller," Zelgadis said, his lip curling into a sneer. "Just the person I wanted to see."

---

To be continued!

Next: Zelgadis has a little talk with Chief Shrine Keeper Zuller, while Xelloss gets an earful back at the Inn. And then things get a lot more complicated.


	6. Chapter 6

**Poison 6 **

by: Tsutsuji

Date written: June-July, 2005. Edits August 2006

Rating for this chapter: T

Pairings: Zelgadis/Xelloss

Disclaimers and other warnings in chapter 1

Summary: Zelgadis confronts Zuller and learns more about the Power of Shimer, while Xelloss gets an earful back at the inn. And then things start to get complicated.

---

Poison, chapter 6

---

Xelloss didn't watch Zelgadis disappear around the corner of the inn. He stood against the wall where the Chimera had thrown him, eyes closed, with the barest hint of a smile on his lips.

"My, my," he sighed. "This is not going well at all."

After a while he walked slowly across the porch and sat down heavily on the top step. Leaning sideways against the railing, he let his head drop to his knees. He sat like that for some time, curled over the staff resting across his lap.

He didn't raise his head when a man came up the path carrying the innkeeper's daughter on his shoulders and singing a song about dancing chickens. The man paused beside him for a moment before going on inside with the laughing child. Xelloss was still huddled there several minutes later when the innkeeper herself came out and stooped beside him.

"Xelloss-sama," she said in a worried voice. "Are you ill? My husband told me there's a guest on the porch who looks like he's got a stomachache. I hope my cooking didn't poison you!"

Xelloss raised his head a little and turned to her with a crooked smile.

"Don't worry yourself on my account, Kari-san!" he said. "Your cooking is certainly not to blame; in fact my companion said he'd never had any better meal. I must have gotten too much sun today. It's taken more out of me than I realized."

She studied what she could see of his face.

"Looks like you'd get a burn easily," she said, "but you look pale. Maybe it's the heat that's gotten you. I've got a salve for burn, and a tonic that will help cool you down, if you don't mind the old healing ways. Don't need a Relic for every little thing, you know! I'd rather have a cleric heal me any day, personally, but we don't have any of those around here anymore. Seems to me that most folks coming here could be healed by plain old White Magic, from what I see. But the Relics are what brings the business to the Valley, and I suppose that helps us all."

She sounded skeptical about that, but she shrugged and smiled at him.

"Anyway, don't mind me grumbling! Come inside and let's see what we can do for you, hm?"

Xelloss smiled back at her, but before he could answer, they heard a loud, querulous voice raised inside, answered by murmurs of sympathetic interest.

Kari rolled her eyes and laughed. "Well now, there's our entertainment for the evening. Duglas is going to work to earn his drinks!"

Xelloss cocked his head to listen. The man's voice, strong but quavering with emotion, came drifting out to the porch.

"...No respect at all! And that's not the worst of it..."

"My, that does sound entertaining," Xelloss said, grinning at the innkeeper. "I think all I need is another cup of tea and a little distraction."

He pulled himself to his feet and held the door for her to lead the way inside. Soon he was settled back at his table near the bar, sipping another cup of tea.

Duglas, a middle-aged man who was nowhere near as grizzled as he made himself sound, held forth from his perch at the middle of the bar. He gestured dramatically at his circle of listeners, pausing now and then to take a drink from the mug someone set at his elbow.

"She's gotten out of hand, she has," he was saying, "All she talks about is the Great Cause of Shimer. Quotes Shimer word for word, as if she thinks I need educating. Thinks more of him than she does of her own family! Spends all her time in town with her friends, visiting one shop after another, buying all that trash. Pfh, I can't even look at that stuff. No craftsmanship like there was in the old days! I told her I'd cut off her allowance if she couldn't find any better use for it, and do you know what she said to me?"

His audience waited while he took a swig from his mug before thumping it back on the bar like a judge's gavel.

"Called me a damn Mazoku! That's what my own daughter said to me!"

His listeners recoiled in horror. Xelloss held his cup in front of his lips to hide his amusement. Duglas' last words were too much for the crowd; they started chattering among themselves excitedly. They couldn't seem to decide which was worse, the Mazoku that they'd all heard of but never seen, or the fanatical Relic sellers and Followers of Shimer that had overrun their peaceful valley.

Duglas muttered into his beer, shaking his head in disgust. For a moment he seemed to forget his audience, and a look of genuine worry creased his face.

"Make a fine Soldier of Shimer one day soon, she will," he muttered. "Probably off uptown right now, looking to join up with them for real."

Only Xelloss heard him. A short time later, he set his teacup down, rose from his chair, and quietly left the inn.

---

Chief Shrine Keeper Zuller stepped out of the shadows under the tree toward Zelgadis. His smile fell a little when he looked down at the sparkling dust that was all that remained of the bracelet.

"Ah," he said regretfully, "I was afraid that you might find the Relic a bit uncomfortable. I hoped your Human side could overcome the resistance of your demonic part, but I see that darker side of you is still too strong, isn't it?"

Zelgadis reached for his sword before he remembered that it was still back at the inn. That was just as well for Zuller, he thought grimly; he would have run the Shrine Keeper through on the spot without waiting for an explanation. Instead, he lunged for Zuller and grabbed him by the throat. He'd hardly ever felt rage like this even toward Xelloss. He'd faced too many disappointments in his search, and the Shrine Keeper's deception was the last straw.

Zuller barely even flinched when Zel's fingers dug into his neck. Holding him by the chin with one hand, Zelgadis ripped the beaded collar off with the other. He snarled when he felt the twisted magic touch his flesh before the beads scattered all over the garden.

"Now, now, young man," Zuller could barely move his mouth under Zel's grip, but he spoke as calmly as ever. "Remember your true humanity! You mustn't let the demon side of you win over now, when you're so close to becoming fully Human again!"

Zelgadis glared at him in astonishment. He let his face twist to show the rage he felt, letting Zuller see just how much demon there was inside of him. The Shrine Keeper squirmed a little in his painful grip, but to Zel's astonishment, he reached up and patted Zel on the shoulder as if to be reassuring.

"I can see that you're upset, Zelgadis-san! I assure you..."

"You lied!" Zelgadis held the man off the ground and shook him. "You lie to all of these people! There is no miraculous healing magic in these Relics! They're nothing but cheap spells. The power of Shimer is a lie!"

Zuller's eyes widened in surprise. Even though Zel's grip threatened to break his jaw, he tried to shake his head in denial.

"No, no, my friend!" he choked. "Mustn't think that! Relics won't work for you, of course! I didn't expect they would. Only at the Shrine - !"

Zelgadis grabbed him by the shoulders and swung him around, pinning him back against the garden wall. Zuller gasped as Zel's fingers dug into him, but somehow he still managed to smile. He looked like he would pat Zel's arm reassuringly again if he could. Zelgadis fought the urge to crush his bones; it was hard to get answers from a screaming man. Instead he shook Zuller again.

"What are you trying to say, Zuller? Are you trying to tell me that the power of the Shrine is real even though the Relics are fake? I don't believe you!"

"It's the truth!" Zuller said. He sounded surprised that anyone would doubt it. Zel's fingers dug into his flesh until he winced, but even then the Shrine Keeper went on speaking earnestly. "That's why I insisted you visit the Shrine in person! It's quite true that the power in the Relics is not the true power of Shimer, but his power is real! It's the only thing that can overcome the accursed magic that made you a chimera!"

Zelgadis stared hard at his face. Even through the pain he must be feeling, the Shrine Keeper looked unflinchingly into his eyes.

"Please, Zelgadis-san," Zuller pleaded, "don't forsake your quest now! I see, now... it's not the demon who rages inside of you, but the human part that has suffered so much disappointment. Don't give up on your humanity! You're so much closer than you know!"

Zelgadis glared at him. Zuller's pale blue eyes searched his face, as if they could see past his snarling anger to something deeper. At that moment, Zelgadis himself wasn't sure if there was any difference between the two parts of him, demon and human. He loosened his grip on Zuller's shoulders, but still held him pinned against the wall.

"Why the lies, then? Why have you woven common White Magic spells into the Relics, just to lure people into buying them? "

"You have only to look around you at the crowds you have seen today to understand the reason," Zuller said.

"Long ago," he began, "when the first Shrine Keepers discovered the healing power of objects blessed at the Shrine, they naturally shared this wonderful news so that everyone who heard it would come here to be cured. And come they did, by the thousands! The Keepers couldn't create more of the healing Relics quickly enough. The Shrine itself is quite small, so it was impossible to bring everyone there for healing. The streets of the Shrine City were filled with suffering humanity, and the afflicted waited for days, weeks, to be healed. People died while waiting on the doorstep, just out of reach of the power that would have saved them.

"The Shrine Keepers realized that many of those who came to seek healing, in fact most of them, didn't need the full power of Shimer to be restored to health. They devised a unique spell that could be placed within these Relics. This spell, which you apparently detected in the bracelet you wore, has been refined over the years by the Shrine Keepers until it is nearly as effective as the power of the Shrine itself. But not quite effective enough for everyone, I'm afraid. Some people still require the full healing properties of the Shrine of Shimer. And you, my friend, are one of those people."

Zelgadis stared at him, searching for more lies, but Zuller's gaze didn't waver. Caught again between hope and doubt, Zelgadis let him go and stepped back. The Shrine Keeper sat down on the nearby bench, rubbing his shoulders. He still smiled as he looked up at Zelgadis, who stood watching him with as little expression as possible. Zel's anger still smoldered, and he didn't dare trust in the truth of anything he'd heard.

"You know," Zuller said conversationally, "you would not even be the first chimera to be restored to human form at the Shrine.

"There have been others?" Zelgadis couldn't hide his surprise.

"Well, one, that I know of. It was back when I was in training as a Keeper, so it must be nearly fifteen years ago. A young apprentice sorcerer had been experimenting - illegally, I believe - and his experiment went wrong. He accidentally combined his body with those of a wolfhound and his master's parrot. His plumage was quite spectacular, but he couldn't perform magic very well with his great, shaggy paws, and he never did get used to walking on those three-toed feet. Besides that, he kept knocking people over with his tail."

Zuller shook his head sympathetically, remembering the young sorcerer's condition, and then he gave Zelgadis a shrewd look. "I think the worse of it for him was that people regarded him as a nothing more than a beast-man and shunned him wherever he went. Some even thought he was a Mazoku."

Uncomfortable with Zuller's insight, Zelgadis waved his hand impatiently.

"But a visit to the Shrine restored him to his human self?" he asked.

"It did," Zuller replied cheerfully. "Not a feather left! The young man swore off magic and became a most enthusiastic Follower of Shimer. It was quite spectacular!"

"I'm sure it was," Zelgadis said. "And no doubt news of his recovery brought many more to the Valley of Shimeria, to buy Relics from the shops and stay at the inns."

"Well, I suppose they did! Many more people were healed of their ills, and more come here every day. Just as you have come here now."

"And you make sure that more keep coming with the spells on all the jewelry that people carry from the Valley when they leave, don't you?" He scuffed the crushed remains of the bracelet with his toe.

"The Relics empower Shimer's followers to spread the word of his healing powers. And those powers, I assure you, are quite real. That's why it's so important to us that the word of it is carried far and wide. How much more time would you have wasted searching without success, if you hadn't heard of the many miracles performed here?"

Zelgadis frowned at him. "Perhaps you should know one more thing," he said. "It wasn't any accidental spell gone wrong that made me a chimera. Rezzo, the Red Priest, made me. Do you really believe that the power of the Shrine can undo what Rezzo did?"

Zuller's eyes widened. "I see! I didn't realize..." He looked at Zelgadis thoughtfully, then he nodded. "I'm even more determined that you visit the Shrine, if that's the case. Perhaps you didn't know that it was Rezzo who nearly ruined Shimer's reputation long ago."

Zelgadis couldn't hide his surprise. "I didn't know they were acquainted, but I suppose the two great Healers of the age would have crossed paths. I sometimes forget how old Rezzo really was."

"Yes, they crossed paths. At one time they were friends and shared their wisdom with each other. It's little known now that Shimer did not approve of White Magic and sought for other ways to heal the ill, and he drew away from those who used it, including Rezzo. When Rezzo began to study Black Magic as well, Shimer spoke out openly against him. Rezzo responded by calling Shimer a deluded fool. He made it widely known that Shimer spoke against the power of the gods, which caused quite a stir at the time. Rezzo even suggested that Shimer's power to heal was a fraud, so you see why I'm even more anxious to prove to you that it is real."

"I see," Zelgadis said. He found it interesting that it was Rezzo who ruined Shimer's reputation, but even more interesting that Xelloss hadn't mentioned it.

Zuller looked up at him, his gaze direct and unflinching. Zelgadis turned and paced a short way across the garden, trying to collect his thoughts.

He still didn't trust Zuller's motives, and he didn't dare put his faith in a Shrine that it now seemed few people ever visited, even if Zuller did insist its power was greater than Rezzo's. His anger had faltered, but he still felt wary of the Shrine Keeper. Even with the best of intentions, the Relics were a deception, one that apparently lined the pockets of the local merchants at the expense of others in the Valley.

Zuller stood and came over to him. He raised his hands as if he would clasp Zel's arms in a gesture of camaraderie, but thought better of when Zel glared at him.

"Zelgadis-sama, my dear friend," he said. "You still doubt my words, I see. Prove it to yourself! Come to the Shrine, and become Human again!"

Zelgadis frowned. He supposed he had nothing to loose. Either the cure would work, or it would fail and he would be no worse off than he was. He had little hope left, but at least what he had was his own, not caused by some enchantment. After a moment, he nodded briefly.

"All right. I will come to the Shrine. But it will be in private, not with a crowd gawking at me. If I choose to spread the word of Shimer's powers afterward, I'll do so in my own way, not as a face on one of your posters."

Zuller's happy face fairly lit up the shadowed garden.

"Excellent! Come to the Shrine City tomorrow, and I will personally guide you to the Shrine itself. And, your friend as well, the Priest, if he still means to come? I see he's not here with you."

Zelgadis shook his head. He'd almost forgotten about Xelloss waiting back at the inn, and now he wasn't happy to be reminded.

"I don't know what his plans are, but I expect he'll be there as well. He wasn't feeling well earlier; apparently something he ate disagreed with him."

"Oh, dear, I'm sorry to hear that. Well, it happens sometimes, even here in Shimeria! I hope he'll be well enough to come with you by tomorrow."

"I'm sure he'll manage to recover somehow," Zelgadis muttered.

"Excellent," the Shrine Keeper repeated. "The other Keepers and I will await you, but we will keep the crowds away when you arrive. After tomorrow, you will be Human again, Zelgadis," he said solemnly. "Until then." He smiled and gave a polite nod of his head, then turned and left the garden.

Zelgadis stood there for a minute with Zuller's last words echoing in his mind. He wanted to believe it was true that he would be Human again in a day or so. Once again, he decided that he'd come so far already, he might as well go on and see what happened.

Scattered beads from Zuller's neckpiece seemed to wink up at him from the grass like tiny eyes. He frowned at them before turning on his heel and leaving the garden.

A moment later Zelgadis turned a corner and was surprised to find himself in view of the main street. Beyond the end of the lane of shops where he stood, the fountains glittered like showers of gold in the light of the setting sun. A few people passed, but the shops were closing and they were all hurrying toward their inns and homes for the night, barely stopping to nod and give a greeting.

He turned to head back to his own inn, hoping he could find the way from here. He had to go back for his sword; otherwise he might have considered leaving for the Shrine without telling Xelloss. He didn't bother to hope that the trickster priest had gone on his way alone. That would make his life too simple.

He walked through the emptying streets in the general direction of the Drover's Road. The few people who were still about greeted him as usual, but he hardly noticed them as he thought about all that Zuller had said. He couldn't bring himself to trust the Shrine Keeper. He knew enough not to trust Xelloss, in fact he'd known that even before he learned of the Priest's true nature. But he wasn't sure about Zuller and his earnest, clear-eyed gaze. He was tired of being manipulated by all of them, but at least the Mazoku only took advantage of emotions he already had. The Relics of Shimer created feelings that didn't even exist.

He glanced up as a group of people crossed his path, ready to murmur a word of greeting, when a flash of light caught his eye. It was probably only the sun glancing off someone's jewelry, but it reminded him of the gleam of a polished blade. No one carried weapons in the Valley of Shimeria, as he'd already seen. But he saw it flash again out of the corner of his eye, and this time he saw what it came from.

He stopped in mid-stride, staring in disbelief. At the corner of the next street a group of men stood talking together, all of them wearing long, grey, hooded robes. Several of these had clasps shaped in the emblem of the Three Rivers: three wavy branches of silver each ending in a blue stone shaped like a drop of water. But the clasp on one man's robe was a single white stone, shaped like a teardrop. Most of them carried swords sheathed at their sides, but two held spears at ease over their shoulders - spears with tips that gleamed like liquid silver.

A sudden memory of the crazed men he'd fought with on the other side of the ridge flashed in his mind. The one he'd grappled with by the campfire had worn a tear-shaped stone on his cloak, and what he'd thought were talismans of some kind on his wrists and around his neck. Now he knew them for what they must have been: Relics of Shimer.

"Damn!" he said to himself. "How could I not have seen it before!"

While he stood gaping at them and cursing himself, something slammed into him from the side. He spun to face his attacker, only to see a portly man squinting up at him near-sightedly.

"Oof! Sorry, son!" the man sputtered, rubbing his bruised nose. "I haven't had my eyes fixed yet, can't see where I'm going half the time! You're hard as a post, you know that, son? Well, I'm sure there's a Relic that'll take care of that for you, too, so chin up, my boy!"

He rambled off down the street and headed straight for a real post. Zelgadis jumped after him to stop him from running into it and then set him on his way again. When he looked around for the grey robed men a second later, they were gone.

---

Xelloss wandered aimlessly through the streets behind the great inns, where the setting sun was reflected like melting gold off the windows of shops and homes. He'd hardly seen a soul since leaving the inn, and the few he did see were hurrying home as dusk fell.

The street he was on made a sharp turn to the left, and then, he saw, another turn to the right, which should lead back to the High Road. As he strolled along this deserted street of shuttered shop windows, three men came around the corner, walking toward him and talking quietly amongst themselves. Their footsteps were soft and their grey robes hardly made a sound, but strings of beads jingled musically on their wrists and around their necks.

Xelloss slowed his pace but kept walking. He looked out from under the fringe of hair that hung over his face at the swords swinging from their belts. The third one only carried a knife in his belt rather than a sword, but a long spear rested on his shoulder.

They glanced at him briefly but didn't pause in their conversation with each other. Xelloss bowed his head politely and murmured a greeting.

"Pleasant evening to you!" they said, almost in unison, and then went on with their discussion.

Xelloss smiled, keeping his head down, and kept walking. They were almost past him when one of the swordsmen gestured with a sweep of his hand, the other nodding in agreement with whatever he was saying so emphatically. But then his agreeable companion suddenly grabbed his wrist, eyes wide in alarm. The sleeve of his robe had fallen back to reveal a white band set with a clear blue stone. But within that stone, black streaks were moving and growing, filling the blue depths of the stone with darkness.

All as one, they raised their eyes and looked at Xelloss. He kept walking, facing straight ahead with his bland smile. They stepped around in front of him to block his path and drew their swords, and the man in the center swung his spear down to point at Xelloss. All of their blades gleamed like moonlight on smooth water.

Xelloss stopped and backed up a pace, well out of their reach. For several seconds no one moved. Finally he raised his head and looked directly at them, eyes wide open.

"Ah, the glorious Soldiers of Shimer. How nice to see you again so soon!" he said cheerfully.

The three men grinned and the spearman took a step forward.

"Die, Mazoku!" he hissed.

Xelloss sighed. "And how very, very predictable," he said.

---

to be continued!

---

Next: Xelloss-sensei explains it all! Don't believe me, do you? Zel's not sure if he wants to believe it, either!


	7. Chapter 7

**Poison 7 **

by: Tsutsuji

Date written: June-July, 2005

Rating for this chapter: T

Warnings: mild violence

Disclaimer and other warnings in chapter 1

Summary: Xelloss-sensei explains it all! No, really, I mean it! Yeah, I know... Zelgadis doesn't quite believe it either.

---

Poison, chapter 7

---

Zelgadis searched through twisting back streets for another glimpse of the soldiers. He jogged past laundries and workshops that served the inns in town, but the few shops he passed were closed and there was no one else around. Before long the sounds from the main street were cut off by buildings and the streets were silent.

He was about to give up and head back to the inn, if he could find it from here, when he heard a familiar sound. He stopped and listened until he heard it again: the jingle of the Relics of Shimer. He followed the sound around a corner into a wider street, then he stopped short and drew back to peer cautiously around again.

Some distance away along the otherwise empty street, a group of three men stood facing a fourth. Zelgadis couldn't see the lone man's face, but from the robes and the staff he carried, it could only be Xelloss. What he could see plainly was the strange gleam of the weapons carried by the three grey-robed men, and the all-too-familiar grins on their faces. Two held swords and one carried a bright-tipped spear.

They had already blocked his path, and Xelloss was braced for a fight with his back to a wall. He raised his staff and they raised their three weapons. They were all smiling, and he heard one of the soldiers hiss the familiar words, "Die, Mazoku!"

_I knew you knew more about them than you would admit_, Zelgadis thought, _You damn, lying Mazoku. That attack was no random band of mercenary demon-hunters!_

He still wondered why Xelloss had put on such a show of being injured after that attack, and what it all had to do with his quest here in Shimeria, so he waited out of sight to see what would happen. Surely Xelloss could deal with the three of them easily. Zelgadis wasn't feeling very fond of Shimer and his rabid Followers at the moment, so he didn't much care what happened to them if they were stupid enough to attack a powerful Mazoku, anyway. Maybe Xelloss would reveal something of his purpose here before he destroyed them.

The three surged forward all at once, as if pulled by the same string. Xelloss gripped the middle of his staff and whirled it side to side. With a quick double thrust, he knocked the swords out of the hands of the two men on either side of him. He raised it straight across in front of his chest to block a blow from the spear, but the spearman pulled back on his thrust at the last second. Rather than knocking the shaft of the spear aside, Xelloss' staff met the knife-like blade. It looked to Zel like the blade passed right through the wood, but the staff didn't break. Even so, Xelloss screamed and staggered back. The grin on the spearman's face grew wider.

Zelgadis remembered that Xelloss' staff was not merely an ornament or a tool to focus his power; it was a part of the form he took on this plane - an actual part of himself. Even so, the spear didn't seem to have harmed it, as far as Zel could see. But Xelloss dropped to one knee, and for a moment he looked as if he was clenched in pain.

It had to be a feint, an effort to draw their attack closer so Xelloss could take them all out at once. That must be why he'd faked being injured before, to lure the soldiers to the ruins. Then he'd let Zelgadis do his dirty work for him and reaped the benefits of Zel's violence from a safe distance. Zelgadis wasn't going to be drawn into his battle this time. The Mazoku could play his own little game with them and leave him out of it.

The swordsmen recovered their weapons and moved in again. They didn't attack immediately, but one after the other they prodded at him with their blades. Xelloss kept up a feeble defense with his staff, grunting with the effort of knocking their blades aside from his half-kneeling position. They were backing him into a corner of solid brick where the street took a sharp turn. Soon he could go no further. Their Mazoku prey was pinned like a hunted animal.

The swordsmen positioned themselves on either side so that he couldn't dart away when the spearman took his shot. Xelloss raised his head to face them, but he didn't stand. Now Zelgadis could see him well enough to tell that his eyes were wide open, but his smile was grim. He held his staff in both hands, braced against his body, pointing at the spearman's face. The spear drew back to strike.

Xelloss glowed purple-black for an instant, then dark energy shot from his hand and his staff. The spearman didn't even have time to scream before he burst into flame.

The others barely even turned their heads to shield their faces from the flash-fire. When the spearman disintegrated into a sooty smudge on the ground a second later, they simply turned back to face Xelloss, still smiling.

Zel saw Xelloss' arm tremble and then fall to his side. The end of his staff clattered on the pavestones, and as Zel watched in shock, he sank to the ground, groaning. Still, he stared up at the soldiers as they raised their weapons. Zelgadis waited for Xelloss to raise his staff and strike again, but as the sword sliced through the air, suddenly he knew it wasn't going to happen. Even from this distance, Zelgadis recognized the defiant expression of a fighter facing his last defeat.

He stopped thinking and ran. As swiftly as he'd ever moved since his escape from Rezzo, he dashed in under the noses of the soldiers and scooped Xelloss up in his arms. He heard the thunk of their blades hitting the dirt inches behind his heels.

He half turned as he ran, looking back at them. They were already coming after him, still grinning, and they were as unnaturally quick as they were strong. Shifting Xelloss' limp body to his shoulder, he spun around to face them. He cupped both hands in front of him and drew power with a quick chant. All of his pent up frustration and anger went into that spell when it burst from his fingertips. There wasn't much more left of the swordsmen than Xelloss had left of the first soldier.

Zelgadis turned again before their dust had settled and didn't look back. He dodged around the first corner he came to, then another, and again, before he finally had to pause to get his bearings. There was no sound of pursuit, no sign that anyone else had noticed the battle at all.

Xelloss hung over his shoulder as limp and nearly as light as a great feather pillow. His grip on his staff was the only sign that he was alive at all. With no signs of pursuit, Zel did the only thing he could think of: he headed back to the Drover's Road and Kari's Inn.

Lights gleamed golden in the windows, and as soon as he came near he heard voices spilling out from the taproom. He slipped in through the city-side door, avoiding the dining room and bar, and crept up the stairs with his burden.

He unloaded Xelloss onto the bed with some care. The priest flopped onto his back and lay there unmoving, eyes closed. The fingers gripping his staff went limp. If he'd been human, Zel would have thought he was dead.

"Xelloss!" He shook the seemingly lifeless body by the shoulders, and then brushed aside his cloak to look for injuries. There didn't seem to be any, but he couldn't know for certain what their weapons would do. He hadn't seen an actual injury when Xelloss had been attacked before, either. There wasn't even a mark on his staff as far as Zelgadis could see

He was about to remove Xelloss' shirt to look for a wound when the violet eyes flickered open. Zel drew his hands away quickly and waited, sitting still on the edge of the bed. At first, Xelloss looked past him, staring at nothing. Then he turned his eyes to Zel and smiled a little. It was a grim smile.

"You saved me," he said, his voice cracking with weariness. "You are a fool, aren't you?"

"What happened? Are you injured again as you were before?"

"Why, what makes you think so? Do I look like I'm injured?" His attempt at his usual, cheerful innocence was remarkably unconvincing.

"No, you look like you're half dead! Just as you did the last time we were attacked by these Followers of Shimer."

"Ah, so you realized who they are?"

"I saw a group of them in town earlier," Zel said. "I finally recognized the talismans that I saw on the soldiers who attacked us on the ridge. They all wear the Relics of Shimer."

"Actually, these men are properly referred to as the Soldiers of Shimer. I did hope I wouldn't run into them again so soon," Xelloss said, as if he was musing to himself. "Oh well. It was to be expected, I suppose."

He sounded resigned, with the same odd tone of regret that he'd had when he'd said he couldn't stand on their flight up the hillside.

"You knew all about them already, of course," Zel said. He was frustrated with Xelloss' secretiveness, as usual, but under his anger was a glimmer of dread of these soldiers with their weapons that could harm someone as powerful as Xelloss.

"Oh yes, I knew of them," Xelloss admitted. "There were many of them at Demonend, as you might expect."

_Of course!_ Zelgadis thought. Xelloss had mentioned he'd been at Demonend recently, but he wouldn't say why.

"What happened there? What's going on with these Soldiers? Why didn't you blast them all, or just disappear? Surely you aren't that weak just from being around a lot of happy people all day."

Xelloss faced him and smiled. Zelgadis realized that his eyes were so pale they were almost clear.

"Ah, that. Well you see, Zelgadis-san, I'm that weak because I'm dying."

Zel stared at him. A strange chill was starting to climb his spine, but he snorted with angry laughter.

"That's nonsense, Xelloss! Mazoku don't just die. You can hardly even be harmed by anyone but a few higher-ranking Mazoku, or maybe by someone wielding a great amount of power, like Lina. How can you possibly be dying?"

"I don't know what else I should call it, then," Xelloss said reasonably. "Soon this human form will disappear, and I'll no longer be able to appear at all on this plane. All that will be left will be my astral body, and that will also weaken, totally cut off from this world as well as my own. At least, that's what has happened to the others."

"Others?"

Xelloss studied Zel for several seconds, searching his face, it seemed, before dropping his head so his expression was hidden.

"Why shouldn't I tell you?" he said, as if asking himself.

Zelgadis forced himself to wait, fighting the urge to shake him for answers - even though, for once, he wasn't sure he wanted to know Xelloss' secrets.

"Some time ago," Xelloss began abruptly, "we became aware that Mazoku were being defeated, utterly ruined, at an alarming rate. Strong, high-ranking Mazoku were defeated in battle when they should not have been. Do you remember Mazenda? I was certain Lina could defeat her eventually, even though she had once been more powerful than Kanzel. Yet she fell before he did. It was quite unexpected, although at the time I had more important things to worry about and didn't take much notice.

"But around the same time, many Mazoku of less power simply began to weaken until they could not take form in this world at all, for no apparent reason at all. And then, to our shock, their astral bodies began to waste away as well, as if their power was being drawn out of them as leeches draw blood from humans.

"The information we were able to gather revealed that all of those affected had crossed paths with either the Soldiers of Shimer or his Followers. Many lesser Mazoku had once been superficially injured by the enchanted weapons of these soldiers, minor injuries that had quickly healed; but later, they were the ones who faded away the fastest. But even if a Mazoku destroyed those soldiers without being injured by them, he began to weaken as well, only a little more slowly.

"But it wasn't just the soldiers. It eventually became clear that any contact with the Followers was enough to affect our kind, especially in the case of the lesser monsters who usually encountered them, and much more slowly in those more powerful to begin with. But we didn't know why, so I was sent to investigate further."

Xelloss sighed. He pushed himself up to lean back against the wall. His eyes were closed as he continued speaking.

"I found an army of Followers at Demonend. This didn't surprise me, nor did their zealousness. But I was surprised by their ability to recognize me as Mazoku even in human form. At least, some of them could. Others couldn't, and until today, I didn't know how they knew. Now I've seen that some of them wear a talisman that changes color in the presence of my kind. Simple, really; I should have seen it sooner.

"They attacked me, and I was surprised and careless, just as I was again tonight, unfortunately. Their blades actually cut right through to my astral body. It was barely a scratch, though, and I thought they were merely using a spell like that Astral Vine you have mastered so completely. I retreated, having found nothing there that could explain the situation anyway. Shimer's bones had no special magic in them. I discovered only that the Relics were all purified here at the Shrine. Later, I found out that the Soldiers are all dedicated here as well and given their weapons before they go to Demonend."

"So whatever this enchantment is, it originates here?" Zelgadis prompted.

"The Curse of Shimer, we call it," Xelloss said with an ironic smile. "Yes, apparently it all starts here. I was sent to find out what it is, how these weapons are made and how they can be destroyed, and why their effect on us seems to be steadily growing more powerful. By then it had become a rather personal quest as well, because although my small injuries had healed as rapidly as I expected, I started to loose my powers. Each time I've been stupid enough to let myself be injured by them again, the immediate effect has been worse, and my powers fade faster."

"You would still recover more quickly on the astral plane, wouldn't you?" Zelgadis asked. "Why don't you just go back there?"

"I believe that I'm too weak already to do that. If I reverted to my true form now, I doubt I could ever take human form again. Unless this curse is broken somehow, that is. Even then, I'm not sure I would regain my lost power."

"Why not?" Zelgadis asked. He had the feeling there was still something missing in Xelloss' tale.

Xelloss smiled at him again and reached to touch his hand. Zel drew it away quickly, angrily, and felt his face flush.

"Stop trying to distract me like that!" he hissed. "What are you still hiding?"

Xelloss laughed quietly. "It is all too easy to piss you off," he said.

"I said before, you don't need to try so hard. Remind me of the time you sent the Claire Bible manuscript up in flames in my hands, and you'll have plenty of my anger."

"Yes..." Xelloss closed his eyes for a moment, looking pleased as Zel snarled at him. But then he opened them again and smiled without humor.

"Unfortunately, your anger doesn't do me much good in the long run. This is what the Curse of Shimer has done to the Mazoku: the source of our power has become like poison. While the darker human emotions still give us pleasure and some strength, the power we get from them is eventually drawn off to the astral plane, where it is sealed somehow."

He grinned wickedly at Zelgadis. "As for the more positive emotions; well, let's just say that an hour in a room with Amelia-san would probably be my last hour on this earth! She's even worse than a village full of these Followers, and that's saying a lot. A horrible death for one of my kind, don't you think?"

Zel gaped at his terrible joke and his exaggerated shiver of dread. Xelloss sat back and gazed at him with his slitted eyes gleaming. They were darker now; their purple color had started to return.

"You're joking about all of this! I don't believe you," Zelgadis said flatly. "You're trying to tell me a fraud like Shimer invented some curse that is killing all of your kind? You're lying, Xelloss. You must be."

"Well," Xelloss said, suddenly brightening up to near his usual annoying cheeriness. "That's fine if you don't believe me! After all, I wouldn't want you to think you now know the secret that is destroying the entire Mazoku race forever!"

He beamed at Zelgadis and leaned back with his hands behind his head. Zelgadis stared at him for a long moment, remembering and putting pieces together.

"That's why you've been using my anger and pain to heal yourself ever since we met again," he said. "Even when you saved me from those villagers, you needed my pain. I thought it was by accident, but it wasn't, was it? You pushed that sword deeper into my shoulder, because you needed the extra strength it gave you right at that moment."

"Did I do that to you?" Xelloss said, sounding surprised. "Well, perhaps it was as you say. The sad truth is, I probably couldn't have saved you otherwise. I know you won't believe this, but it was truly coincidental that I found you on your way to Shimeria. I've been glad to have your company since then. That's not a lie, either."

Zelgadis stared at him, trying to convince himself that every single thing he'd said was a lie with some hidden meaning. If it was, it was far more convincing than most of his lies in the past. There was always some sense of mischief in Xelloss when he was manipulating people, but in spite of his jokes, it was missing here.

"You're saying that your plan all along has been to find and destroy the source of the Curse, even though you can't be sure it's within the Shrine, which will probably be protected anyway by these soldiers whose weapons can actually wound you? And every time they wound you, it gets worse? And being around the Relics makes you even weaker? And on top of that, you don't know if destroying the source of Shimer's Curse will restore your power?" He laughed grimly. "In other words, you're on a suicide mission!"

Xelloss smiled a strange smile. "Suicide is a concept for mortals, Zelgadis-san."

"You're the one who said you were dying, Xelloss. It sounds like you've grasped the concept of mortality pretty well."

Xelloss looked away again. "I suppose that's what it is, isn't it? Feeling your strength ebbing away with each passing second? Finally becoming aware of time itself? No wonder you're all so grumpy most of the time."

Zel shook his head at Xelloss' black humor.

"Why send just you on this mission? If you only need to destroy the shrine, wouldn't a horde of lesser monsters have done just as well?"

"I'm afraid not. The lower ranking Mazoku have fallen much more quickly to this Curse. The mere presence of Shimer's Relics often weakens them beyond use, we've found. It's slightly possible that a great army of them could storm the place if they took it by surprise. But many would fall, and we couldn't afford such great losses, especially if the Dragons hear of it. And if we still failed to destroy the source of the Curse after a battle like that, it would be known far and wide how desperate our situation has become."

He smiled with that same black humor. "Imagine how excited the Dragon Elders would be to hear of it! The irony is, as far as we can tell, Shimer's curse will eventually affect them as well. The Great Cause of Humanity, you see."

"They mean to wipe out both gods and demons!" Zel said disbelievingly. "But that... it can't be possible!"

"It is possible. Not all of the Soldiers of Shimer go to Demonend or wander the world hunting Mazoku. They're becoming quite popular among common folk as dragon hunters, but they make no distinction between the more primitive, destructive types of dragons and the peaceful ones. They've been seen in the Kataart Mountains, no doubt seeking the lost road to Dragon's Peak."

"The Golden Dragons, Milgasia's tribe? They're even bold enough to attack them?"

"It's quite an audacious plan, I agree. However, so far, it seems to be working."

"So rather than risk exposing their plan, you're going in alone, undercover, on this suicide mission. Wouldn't one of the more powerful Mazoku Lords stand a better chance of survival?"

Xelloss gaped at him, as if this was incomprehensible. "We would never consider such a thing! That's what those of my rank, the Priests and Generals of our Masters, exist for! But the others of my rank, those few that are still able to take form in this dimension, are not as powerful as I am, since Zelas-sama gave me power equal to two of them together. Aside from that, I'm the only one who has masqueraded as human so successfully. They would have exposed themselves long before this."

"I see. You're the only Mazoku who is powerful enough, clever enough, and expendable," Zelgadis said. He was surprised at the bitterness that came through in his voice.

Xelloss looked at him quizzically. "I think expendability is another human concept," he said. "I have no choice in the matter, but even if I did... Tell me, Zelgadis-san, how much would you risk to save your entire race from annihilation?"

Zelgadis stared at him, and finally believed that what he said was true. At that moment he thought he understood Xelloss more completely than he ever had before. He wished his link with his own human race was as strong.

"What race would I save?" he asked with even more bitterness. "The race of rock golems, or the race of Brow Demons?"

Xelloss laughed softly. "You are so much more human than you give yourself credit for. You have already risked death to save the human race several times! I simply can't understand why you wish to be anything other than what you are, Zelgadis-san."

Zelgadis shook his head again, this time in frustration. "You could never understand..." he said, but he spoke softly, more to himself than to Xelloss. "...how it feels to have an alien skin, a demon soul living inside you. You can choose your appearance, I suppose, but I can't. My own kind rejects me as I am. I don't imagine you've ever had that problem."

"No, of course not. But do you remember what I told Tambor? That the ones I serve no longer hear my prayers? As long as I'm on this mission, I can't return to my true form, and I can't commune with my Mistress or any other Mazoku. I'm trapped inside this human shell as you are in your body of stone, Zelgadis-san. I don't find it particularly pleasant, either."

He paused and looked past Zelgadis at nothing, thinking his own thoughts. Something else was falling into place in Zel's mind, scattered questions fitting together like the pieces of a puzzle.

"You said human emotions don't give you strength anymore... but I'm not fully human, am I?" he said. "That's why you've been so glad to have me along on this mission of yours. That's why you goaded me, even hurt me, to get the power you need. Somehow, the demon part of me makes my human emotions more useful to you, in spite of Shimer's curse, doesn't it?"

Xelloss faced him. "Yes," he said simply. He reached to touch the stone flesh of Zel's arm, but Zel jerked his hand away again.

"That's why you don't want me to find a cure and become human again. I'll be no more use to you then," he snarled.

He stood up quickly, but Xelloss caught his wrist and pulled him back until they were face to face. Startled by the intensity of Xelloss' gaze and the pressure of his grip, Zelgadis could only stare back at him.

"That is not the reason," Xelloss said.

Zelgadis felt pinned by the gaze of those inhuman eyes, as if they were staring into his soul... searching for something. After a few seconds, Xelloss let him go and fell back on the pillow. His eyes closed and he sighed. Zelgadis sat back, rubbing his wrist. His flesh tingled where Xelloss had gripped it.

"It doesn't matter," Xelloss said, sounding tired. "As soon as we arrived in the valley, that side of you started to fade. You see, the power of Shimer to restore humanity to the cursed is not all a sham."

Xelloss turned to him again with his smile back in place.

"Those bracelets Tambor gave you actually work, whether you believe it or not. I was truly surprised that Shimer's marvelous jewelry didn't cure you on the spot!" he said in a more lighthearted voice. "I was hoping so, in fact. As I said before, I really didn't want you to discover that my entire race is on the verge of being destroyed. I admit I took advantage of your unique nature as long as I could, but in spite of what you think..."

He looked up at Zelgadis, with an odd smile.

"It would have suited me if you had been cured by the Relics and gone on your way. I still think it's foolish of you to give up being a Chimera, but obviously my opinion on the matter doesn't count for much. I'm in no position to stop you if you choose to go on to the Shrine and find your cure there. However, I'm absolutely certain, without a doubt, that when you enter the Shrine, Shimer's power will cure you. You will no longer be the Chimera we all know and love."

Irritated by this last flippant comment, Zelgadis stood and began to pace. He rubbed his wrist where Xelloss had gripped him. It felt... good, actually. The touch left a pleasant warmth of the kind that usually didn't penetrate through his stone skin.

He studied the place on his wrist curiously, then looked at his other wrist, where the spell on the bracelet had tried to dig its way into his flesh. There was still a faint tingle there as well, but it was irritating rather than pleasant. He remembered once when he was young he'd accidentally stuck his hand into a patch of nettles. The stinging, crawling itch that remained from Shimer's Relic reminded him of that, but it went deeper. He definitely preferred the sensation from the Mazoku's touch.

He stood there looking at his arms, feeling like a wall had been building up around him while he hadn't noticed - a wall built of gaudy gems and shimmering strings of beads.

"I know exactly how well the Relics work," he said. "There is healing magic in them, but Shimer's fabulous Relics are a fraud and a lie. You must have known it all along, Xelloss."

Xelloss had been lying back with his arm over his eyes, but he peered up at Zelgadis curiously.

"Truthfully, I have no idea what you're talking about! You said you sensed a great deal of power in the Relics, and I certainly don't find them pleasant to be around, especially not in my current condition. Are you saying that's all an illusion?"

Zelgadis decided to believe him this time. "You've probably been too preoccupied with the effect of Shimer's Curse on your own kind to worry about what those things are doing to humans. I suppose that's reasonable enough. Since you're not wearing the damn things, there's no reason you should worry about it, is there?"

"Why, Zelgadis, you sound quite disgruntled! A lot like the folks here at the inn, in fact. They don't seem to think much of the fabulous Relics of Shimer, either!"

Zelgadis laughed with very little humor. "I'm glad to hear that not everyone has fallen under their spell. It is a unique spell, but it's woven of common magic, and its main purpose is to bring more people to the Valley of Shimeria to spend their money on yet more Relics."

Zelgadis described the enchantment woven of several spells that he'd discovered on the bracelet, and told him what Zuller had said about the reason for it. Xelloss found it interesting that the Shrine Keepers used the White Magic that Shimer had denounced, but he wasn't surprised.

"Yet Zuller still insists the power at the Shrine itself is something different," Xelloss mused. "You're not willing to take him at his word, are you? I'm inclined to agree with him. Something there empowers the Soldiers of Shimer with much more than ordinary White, Black or Shamanistic Magic, even if the Relics are nothing but a clever deception."

"I would have killed him just for deceiving so many people," Zelgadis said grimly. "Even if his explanation does make sense, I still don't trust him. I think his only motive is profit. It's no wonder the people in this part of the Valley don't care for the Relic sellers. The Shrine Keepers are no better than Mazoku, as far as I'm concerned."

Zelgadis was startled when Xelloss laughed out loud at this comment.

"My, we are everywhere, aren't we?" he chuckled.

He pushed himself up again to a sitting position. Leaning back against the pillows, he regarded Zelgadis silently for a minute.

"Knowing all of this," he said finally, "what do you intend to do?"

The hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth told Zelgadis that he already guessed the answer, but Zel said it out loud anyway.

"I'm going to visit the Shrine of Shimer, since both you and Zuller continue to insist it can cure me. If it does, I don't care what you do after that. If it doesn't, I'll probably destroy it myself."

Xelloss smiled.

"Then I guess we're traveling together a little longer," he said.

Zelgadis nodded once, smiling as well. It was a grim smile, but it was his own, not one created by some spell.

"Yes," he said. "I guess we are."

(to be continued!)

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Next: This story is labeled "hurt/comfort" _and _"angst" for a reason. How else do you comfort a Mazoku when he's hurt, hm? (Please be warned that the following chapter is definitely rated M.)


	8. Chapter 8

**Poison 8 **

by: Tsutsuji

Date written: June-July, 2005

Rating for this chapter: R (M)

Warnings: hurt/comfort, angst, LIME - m/m sexual content

Disclaimer and other warnings in chapter 1

Summary: It takes an angst-ridden Chimera to properly comfort a Mazoku when he's hurt...

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Poison, chapter 8

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Zelgadis felt the touch on his cheek before he was fully awake. This time, when he opened his eyes to see Xelloss' violet gaze inches from his face, he wasn't surprised at all.

He'd fallen asleep earlier in his own bed, after watching Xelloss drift off into what appeared to be sleep, just as he had after the previous attack. He still didn't know if the Mazoku really needed to sleep or if it was just something to do while he waited for his strength to return. He had learned more about Mazoku today than he wanted to know, but there was still a lot that he didn't understand.

Zelgadis had climbed into his own bed on the other side of the room, but he hadn't expected to sleep even after their long day of travel. It seemed like he'd spent every minute of the day trying to decide what to believe. But in spite of the thoughts spinning in his head, he had fallen asleep quickly, only to wake up some time later with a Mazoku caressing his cheek.

He waited, but Xelloss only stared into his eyes, unblinking and unsmiling. He was leaning across Zelgadis with one arm on the other side of the bed, nearly on top of him. Zelgadis noticed for the first time that Xelloss' hand without his customary glove was surprisingly delicate. The touch on his cheek seemed light as a feather, yet he could feel it as distinctly as if his flesh was ordinary flesh. That one finger trailing so lightly over Zel's face was all; Xelloss didn't make any other move at all, except Zel thought he felt the arm across him tremble.

"Xelloss? Are you...?"

Xelloss shushed his question by pressing a fingertip over his lips. Then that delicate hand flowed lightly down over his chin, briefly fingering the rocky plates there before coming to rest around his throat. Thumb and fingers pressed softly over the pulse on either side of his neck, making him more aware of the pounding of his heart. He waited again, but for a long minute Xelloss did nothing else at all. Looking up into those half-lidded lavender eyes, Zelgadis started to feel nervous.

The corner of Xelloss' mouth lifted, just a little curve upward that Zelgadis could barely see in the dark. At the same time, a spark of heat touched his skin, as if Xelloss' fingertips had briefly burst into flame. He thought of the red-black energy that had burst from those hands to destroy a man in seconds, and nervousness blossomed into fear.

He hadn't even felt the expected rush of anger when he awoke to see Xelloss hovering over him, but this fear was just as strong. He wondered what Xelloss would do to arouse the darker emotions he needed, how far he would go to get them. Whatever he'd said earlier, it was clear that he still needed those emotions, and maybe needed them even more now to recover from the effect of the Soldiers' weapons. Anger wasn't the only thing he could draw power from. Fear and pain would work just as well.

Without thinking, Zelgadis slid his hand up to press against Xelloss' chest, fingers curling in the priest's shirt. But that might have been a mistake, he decided a second later, as it made him very aware of the body pressed so close to his. In spite of his fear, he wasn't sure if he was holding Xelloss off, or holding him in place.

Xelloss lowered his head a fraction of an inch closer, but no more. He was smiling a little more, now, and there was another quick burst of heat from the fingertips on Zel's throat that shot right through his stone skin. But Zelgadis couldn't tear his eyes away from those lips hovering so close to his. His wrist still tingled slightly where Xelloss had grabbed him earlier, and his heart pounded under that heated touch, but now it seemed that his lips tingled as well from that kiss two days ago.

Still Xelloss didn't move and didn't do anything else. Zel's heart raced, but fear wasn't the only reason.

Finally damning caution for desire, he raised his head and touched their lips together. The response wasn't quite what he expected. Xelloss' eyes widened in surprise, and nothing else happened for a second. Then the violet eyes fell closed and Xelloss was on him.

Invading his mouth with lips and tongue, Xelloss held him down with the hand on his throat and pressed him into the mattress. The arm that had been stretched across Zel's chest now slipped under his shoulder and reached up behind his head. Xelloss caught a fistful of his wire-like hair in a grip that would have cut a normal man's hand to shreds.

Zelgadis pushed back against his chest, even though he couldn't budge Xelloss off him. He wasn't sure he wanted to. Xelloss rolled closer and thrust his knee between Zelgadis' legs to push them apart and trap them.

Suddenly Zelgadis felt very vulnerable, with Xelloss pulling his head back to ravish his mouth and pressing so aggressively against his body. With a grunt of fear he pushed back harder, but the only result was a soft laugh. Pinning him down with his body and holding his head with one hand, Xelloss moved the other hand down from his neck to slip under his nightshirt and push it out of the way. The delicate hand wandered over the smooth stone and rocky nubs on his chest, and all the while little flashes of flame-like energy glowed from his fingertips.

The pressure of those fingertips brought warmth that Zel hadn't felt in his skin since he'd become a chimera. Xelloss touched him like fire, and the sensation became a pleasure just short of being painful. Xelloss' mouth left his and started to search out all the other places that were still sensitive even on his stone body, beginning with the hollow of his throat and moving ever lower.

Zelgadis alternated between struggling and going limp under the pleasurable assault. When the heated touch and mouth delved below the sheet and started to push Zel's pants down his hips, it suddenly became clear what Xelloss' goal was. Zelgadis panicked. He growled and tried to grab Xelloss' hand away. It was bizarre enough that anyone would touch him at all in this way, but what Xelloss seemed determined to do horrified him even while he longed for it. They struggled for a minute, but somehow Xelloss managed to get Zel's pants out of the way and then pinned Zel's wrists at his sides.

Xelloss had been so strangely light when Zel had carried him earlier, but his weight now was more than enough to hold Zel down on the bed. Glittering eyes caught his gaze, and he went still, feeling like a bird pinned under a cat's paw. He couldn't speak.

"Forgive me, Zelgadis-san," Xelloss murmured, looking down at Zel's exposed body. "I know you don't want this from me, that I'm the last person you would want touching you this way. But you see, if you did want it, it wouldn't be as much fun for me, would it?"

Zelgadis was startled by the sound of regret in his voice. Xelloss wasn't smiling now; in fact his half-lidded eyes seemed sad, if that was possible. Then he lowered his head and did what Zelgadis thought no one would ever do to him.

"Xelloss!" he cried out. He wanted to speak or scream but he couldn't catch his breath. He wanted to let Xelloss know how much he wanted this, even though he was afraid and even though he hated himself for wanting it so much. He had to let Xelloss know all that had awakened inside him from the moment of that first startling kiss.

Xelloss dragged waves of pleasure from him, even while keeping him helpless to either resist or cooperate. He'd never been so aroused - he'd never allowed himself to feel so aroused. Part of his mind screamed that it couldn't be right for him to feel this good, or for this horrible body to feel such pleasure.

Xelloss teased him mercilessly, hungrily drawing more intense sensations from his body, then drawing back to let the tension build. Zel's frustration at being held down and manipulated grew even greater when he realized he wanted to reciprocate. He wanted to touch Xelloss and drive him to distraction just as he was being teased to madness.

As soon as he thought this, he realized how much he'd wanted it, and how long he'd been denying his desire. With that thought he realized how he could pleasure and torment Xelloss in his own way.

He started with the frustration, letting it grow into rage at his helplessness. Fear swelled into terror of his helpless position in Xelloss' hands. He let himself feel the thwarted desire he'd been hiding from himself until it was like a wordless scream in his mind. At the same time he reminded himself that this was a Monster touching him, and felt the revulsion of that along with the terrible desire.

He let the conflicted emotions build to an excruciating peak. Suddenly he drew them back and let pleasure rush through him in a wave of pure bliss. His choked scream became a gasp of joy. He held on to that ecstasy for a few intense seconds before releasing it, and then he let the darker emotions swell again.

He felt the hands pinning his wrists jerk. Xelloss paused and lifted his head, leaving Zel exposed and longing for more.

"Zelgadis?" He sounded breathless with surprise.

"Damn you, Xelloss!" Zelgadis cried, pouring all the anguish he could find inside himself into the words.

Xelloss shuddered; his eyes fell closed and a blissful smile appeared on his face. Panting with the force of his emotions, Zelgadis moaned when he saw that smile.

When Xelloss lowered his head again, he twisted Zel's wrists tighter than ever, painfully tight. Zelgadis strangled a scream and struggled under him. The pain in his wrists was matched by the pleasure Xelloss forced upon him. It felt so good, but he shouldn't be able to feel this good. He was the one who was a monster, he thought desperately; a demon in an inhuman body. Only another monster would want him like this, could make him feel like this... He let all his revulsion for his body and his hatred of Mazoku gather inside himself. He heard and felt Xelloss moan in pleasure.

Suddenly his wrists were released and Xelloss' hands were around him and under him, lifting him up off the bed to feast on his body just as he was feasting on his dark emotions. Zelgadis felt like a powerful spell was ripping through him to do its work, but it felt even better because it stayed inside, spiraling tighter and tighter.

All the desire gathered into one place and was suddenly released. He poured himself into Xelloss, curling up around him, clawing at his shoulders, twisting his fingers in purple-dark hair. He didn't want to let go, even if Xelloss drained the life out of him.

Some time later, he slowly came to his senses. At first he was confused by a sense of contentment that he knew he shouldn't have. He couldn't remember why it was wrong to feel this good until he became aware of Xelloss' head resting on his chest. The pleasant feeling disappeared under a knot of conflicting emotions that he didn't try to sort out.

Xelloss' hair was as soft as he'd thought it would be, like heavy silk falling over his fingers. The hand that had touched him with fire now rested on his hip, a pleasant weight with only a little warmth left in it. But then Xelloss stirred and turned his head to press his lips against Zel's chest, and the soft heat of his kiss was like a touch of flame.

"All better now?" Zelgadis asked, without a bit of sarcasm.

Xelloss didn't turn to face him but rested his head on Zel again, rubbing his cheek over pebbled skin.

"A little," he said. "Actually, a great deal more than I expected. I wasn't really expecting this to give me strength, but you surprised me, Zel-san."

His answer confused Zelgadis. He raised his head to stare down at Xelloss.

"You didn't think it would strengthen you? Why did you bother, then?"

Xelloss turned and raised himself up over Zelgadis, and leaned over him so their faces were inches apart once again.

"I did it because I wanted to. I've wanted you like this ever since I first saw you, Chimera," he said.

Zelgadis gaped at him. That gave Xelloss the opportunity to dart down and tease Zel with lips and tongue for a few startling seconds before he rolled away and rose off the bed.

"Where are you going?" Zelgadis said, sitting up. He was beyond confusion. That wasn't what he'd expected to hear, and he didn't know if he wanted to believe it or not. He'd barely begun to come to terms with his own desire for Xelloss. That Xelloss might actually desire him as well was beyond the limit of belief.

"It's nearly dawn," Xelloss said. He sounded just as blandly cheerful as ever. "We should be on our way soon if we're going on to the Shrine. It's best if we avoid the crowds on the roads as much as possible, don't you think?"

Zelgadis couldn't even find it in himself to feel annoyed. If he felt anything at all it was relief. He was grateful for an excuse to step back from the storm of emotions that had built up and burst inside him. For the moment, at least, he'd reached the limit of knowing things he didn't want to know, feeling things he didn't want to feel, and trying to decide what to believe.

He quickly packed the few articles he'd taken out of his bag, while Xelloss gathered his bag, cloak, and staff and waited by the door. His head was bowed, hiding his eyes as usual, but he looked the same as ever, as far as Zelgadis could tell. It made him wonder what affect his emotional storm had really had. He'd assumed Xelloss was faking injury before; now he wondered if he was hiding greater weakness than Zel realized. He paused at the door and faced Xelloss.

"Have you recovered from the attack?" he asked seriously. "Are you strong enough to go on now? I'm still not sure I understand what's happening to you." He paused uncertainly, and then rushed onward. "What we just did... did it really help? That's all I need to know."

Xelloss' lips twitched upward, but the rest of his face remained hidden.

"It did help," he said. "As I said, though, it has become increasingly difficult to draw strength from human emotions. Each time I do, the effect of the Curse grows stronger, so that the seal on my astral body grows stronger."

He cocked his head then, and Zel could see a glimpse of one violet eye.

"Your inhuman aspect counteracts that a little," Xelloss continued. "But even your emotions are like a seductive poison that I can't resist. It's rather like a hit from a drug that doesn't last as long as it did before and weakens the body each time it's used. Yes, I'm strengthened now, thanks to your inner turmoil, and I've recovered from the attack of those soldiers yesterday, for the most part. But I may not have much time to take advantage of it."

Zelgadis stared hard at him for another second. He understood the last of what Xelloss said, at least. Deciding what to believe about the rest could wait.

"In that case, let's get going," he said. He left the room and didn't look back.

---

The clear sky over the valley was filled with light, but the sun hadn't yet risen when they came downstairs, looking for someone to settle their bill. Kari's husband was already on his way out the door to work in the gardens and greeted them cheerfully but quietly.

"Feeling better, Xelloss-sama?" he asked with a wide smile. Zelgadis was surprised at the question, but even more puzzled by the way it was asked. The man sounded as if he already knew the answer.

Xelloss said brightly that he was, thank you, and explained to Zelgadis' questioning look that he'd been feeling especially weary the night before after all the bright sun of the day.

Kari's husband pointed the way to the kitchen. "Kari'll figure your bill. Have a pleasant journey!" he said. He waved as he went out the door.

Kari was already busy chopping onions for the day's meals when they came into the kitchen. She asked Xelloss the same question with the same knowing look while she figured up what they owed for room and board.

"I'm glad to see you both looking better this morning," she went on, with an alarming twinkle in her eye. To Zelgadis' astonishment, she winked at them. "Some things Relics can't cure, neither can tonics or even sleep, eh? Should've seen you two just needed a bit of private time together to work out whatever was eating at the both of you. Good that the baby's a sound sleeper, and nothing wakes the bargemen after a day of work and a night of ale! I don't think anyone but Bri and me heard a sound, and that's just because we're such early risers."

Zelgadis looked at Xelloss uncertainly. He felt like he was missing something, but he wasn't reassured when even Xelloss looked stunned.

"You, uh, heard something?" Xelloss asked cautiously.

"Nothing I haven't heard before," she said brightly, "given the way those old bedsprings creak! I've heard a lot more than that, in fact. Sometimes the newlyweds come out here, thinking it'll be more romantic than the big places uptown, and you can hear them all up and down the canal!"

Realization of just what she'd heard hit Zelgadis like a Fireball. He felt his jaw drop, and his face flamed hotter than the fire in Kari's stove. It didn't help any that Xelloss had gone from looking alarmed to looking like Lina Inverse with a hoard of treasure at her fingertips. Zelgadis thought he would choke and die from embarrassment when Xelloss winked back at Kari.

"You're quite right, our time together here did us both a great deal of good!" he said cheerily. He cocked his head and winked at Zelgadis, revealing a glimpse of one inhuman eye that Kari couldn't see.

"My, Zel-kun," he said, "I don't think I've ever seen that particular shade of mauve on your face before!"

Zelgadis closed his eyes and hid his face behind his hand. He'd never felt so mortified, not even when he'd masqueraded all too successfully as a girl. That was nothing compared to knowing that a pair of innkeepers had overheard him and Xelloss having... having... doing what they'd just done together.

Xelloss pressed a handful of coins into Kari's hand without looking at the bill she'd written up.

"That's far too much, Xelloss-sama," she said quickly and tried to hand half of it back, but he stepped away, waving his hands at her.

"I insist!" he said. "Your hospitality is well worth it. Buy Duglas a drink on us, as well!"

She shrugged and laughed, pocketing the money without any further argument. She turned to Zelgadis and gave his arm a friendly nudge.

"Sorry if I've embarrassed you, Zelgadis-sama!" she said with a warm smile. "Nothing to be ashamed of!"

He sighed and pulled his hand away from his face, allowing himself to be reassured by her gleeful expression. No point in standing there dying of shame all day, he decided. Somehow he even managed to smile back at her.

"I'm sorry we, er, disturbed anyone," he said.

She laughed again. "I'm just glad you enjoyed your stay at our 'quiet, restful location'! Now, watch out for that sun out there in the Valley, Xelloss-sama," she warned. "There isn't a bit of shade on the High Road between Midtown and the Crystal River, so you be careful!"

She held the kitchen door for them. They stepped out into a fresh morning and looked across the kitchen garden to the canal and the irrigated fields beyond. The nearly silent gurgle of the water and Bri's hoe hitting the dirt were the only sounds they could hear. Long morning shadows of the few trees beside the canal stretched up the Drover's Road, now pointing back toward the Haunted Ridge. But they turned to the other side where the city began. The bulk of Midtown's buildings in the sharp light looked like a pile of giant rock-golems dumped on the landscape.

As he stepped off the kitchen porch, Kari's last words gave Zelgadis an idea. He looked along the Drover's Road, shading his eyes against the sun. A barge was already moving away from the Inn's mooring dock, and a horse with a cart full of sacks came slowly up the road. Not far away, a smaller irrigation ditch drew water off the canal for a cherry orchard. He turned back to Kari who was waving goodbye from the doorway.

"How close would the Drover's Road take us to the Shrine City?" he asked. "Would it add much time to our journey to go that way?"

"It'll take you right up to where the canal joins Crystal River, by the docks in the old Jeweler's Town. That's right down under Shrine City, and from there you could take a ferry across to the Hill, or take the river road back down to where it joins the High Road and cross the bridge there. Would take you a little longer, but not much longer, if you're not in any hurry and you don't mind the company of farmers and bargemen. You might reach the Crystal River by nightfall, anyway, since you've got such an early start."

"We are in something of a hurry," he said with a glance at Xelloss. "But there's a little more shade, and it should be cooler along the canal. The heat on the High Road will slow us down just as much, if it wears you out like it did yesterday, Xelloss. Personally, I'd prefer to avoid the crowds. They find me a little too... interesting."

"Of course!" Xelloss agreed immediately. "What an excellent idea!"

Zelgadis thought of another thing and turned to Kari again. Xelloss waited, watching him curiously.

"I suppose," he said with a note of concern in his voice, "the Drover's Road is safe for strangers, isn't it? Those soldiers I saw uptown last night; do they patrol this far out?"

"Oh, them!" Kari said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "They don't even really patrol the High Road, as far as I've ever seen. They just take that road from the Shrine on their way out of the Valley. They don't do any policing, certainly not out in here on the edge of nowhere. They're only interested in hunting Mazoku, and those don't come around here at all!"

"That's good to know," he said, with a smirk at Xelloss, who beamed back at him as if this was the best news he'd heard all week.

"The glorious Soldiers of Shimer strut up the High Road just to be seen after they've been dedicated at the Shrine," she said, sounding unimpressed. "As far as I can tell, if you've seen one of them, you've seen them all. But you're safe enough on the Drover's Road. Bandits don't bother coming around here either, unless you count the kids who steal apples from the neighbors' orchard."

"Surely there are soldiers in the Shrine City," Xelloss said, sounding like a curious tourist. "They must guard the Shrine, at least."

"Not that I've ever heard," Kari answered. "Might be one or two around there for show, but I've never heard of there being any trouble for them to guard against. If bandits wanted to steal the Relics, the wouldn't have to go all the way to the Shrine to get them!"

"I see your point," Zelgadis said, and Xelloss nodded at her, beaming.

"Well, you two better be on your way, unless you want your room for another night!"

To Zelgadis' dismay, she actually wiggled her eyebrows at them suggestively, although her smile kept the gesture from being obscene. Still, it made him blush all over again. Kari caught Xelloss' eye.

"Cute when he blushes, isn't he?" she said with as much mischief as Xelloss himself.

"I've always thought so!" Xelloss replied. "Come, Zel-kun, let's be on our way!"

Zelgadis glared at him and gave Kari one last crooked grin before turning away and following Xelloss out of the yard.

They walked a while in silence, until Xelloss gave him a sly, sidelong glance.

"Zel-san, you were charmingly deceptive back there," he said. "Very clever of you!"

"I learned from the best," Zelgadis muttered, grinning to himself. He watched as a barge came drifting by, pulled by a pair of oxen plodding along the towpath on the opposite side of the canal. "You know, if you get tired of walking, Xelloss, maybe we can find a nice, grumpy bargeman to give us a ride."

"You are so considerate, Zel-san!" Xelloss said, beaming at him.

Zelgadis gave him a sly look from behind the silver fringe that hid half of his face. "That's how newlyweds are supposed to be, isn't it?" he said.

Xelloss' mouth dropped open in shock for a second, and then a sound never heard in the Valley of Shimeria, a Mazoku's laughter, rang out in the still country air.

---

to be continued

---

Next: A calm interlude before the final storm, as Zel and Xelloss take the scenic route to the Shrine City, and face the possibility that one of them might not return! Later, Zelgadis learns one more thing he didn't know about Mazok - one little detail that changes everything.


	9. Chapter 9

Title: Poison (chapter 9 of 12 or so)

Author: Tsutsuji

Date written: July 18-23, 2005)

Fandom: Slayers

Rating: R for suggestiveness

Pairings: Zelgadis/Xelloss

Original characters: no

Type: yaoi/slash, adventure

Warnings: hurt/comfort, angst

Status: in progress.

Spoilers: no

Disclaimer: I do not own the copyright to these characters and I'm making no profit from this fic and intend no copyright infringement.

Summary: An idyllic interlude, sort of, as Zelgadis (who is still in denial about the direction their relationship is taking) and Xelloss (who is actually clueless as well) take the scenic route to the Shrine City. And Zel learns a few more things about Mazoku and their sleeping habits that he didn't know.

AN: Edited version - I accidentally left out a bit of dialogue that needed to be in this chapter, which takes place just after they've arrived at the town of Underhill. Sorry about that! The new bit is marked (- - - -) if you only want to read that part.

---

Poison, chapter 9

---

Zelgadis found the morning walk along the Drover's Road with Xelloss was nearly as peaceful and pleasant as the first part of their journey together had been. The water of the canal was a still mirror except when one of the few boats passed by, and the only people they passed were farmers who did no more than tip their heads in greeting.

Xelloss was quieter than he had been back when they started traveling together, although he did tell a few rude jokes about newlyweds which made Zelgadis wish he hadn't made his own little joke earlier. He knew the crude humor was meant to irritate him, just as it had been before. What bothered him more than Xelloss knew was the way those jokes seemed to mock what they'd done that morning.

Zelgadis found Xelloss' physical presence even more of a distraction now than he had before. Now he knew how that deceptively solid body felt against his, and how those smiling lips tasted and what they could do to him. But even more determinedly than before, he reminded himself that Xelloss was an illusion - a terribly attractive one, but still an illusion. Under those priest's robes there was nothing but a bodiless demon with a knack for manipulating people.

Even Xelloss' words about wanting Zelgadis meant less than they'd seemed to mean this morning, he realized. Like so many things Xelloss said, they didn't need to be an outright lie to be deceptive. No matter how good Xelloss had made him feel, all the Mazoku priest ever wanted from him was his dark emotions. Sex was just one more way of invoking them. It certainly didn't mean that he wanted Zelgadis in the same way that Zelgadis was beginning to want him. Even if Xelloss had been capable of feeling that kind of desire, no one, not even a demon, could possibly desire him in this monstrous body.

He tried to turn his thoughts to all Xelloss had told him about the Curse of Shimer, and to Zuller's words about the power of the Shrine. His anger at the Shrine Keeper returned in full force when the High Road came into view beyond the limits of Midtown. That was about the same time Xelloss stopped telling rude jokes and became quiet again.

They each glanced over at the High Road, which was little more than a quarter of a mile away. Zelgadis' eyes could see many faces still smiling as placidly as ever, but the crowd of travelers had thinned out a great deal after Midtown. Many pilgrims must have already found healing in the shops and stalls of the Relic sellers, Zelgadis thought with a bitter smile. Probably even more would find theirs in the Shrine City, leaving very few to visit the actual Shrine, as Zuller had said.

Xelloss didn't seem to be bothered by this reminder of their problems, however. In fact, he appeared quite content, as placid as the canal with his usual secretive smile.

"The people on the High Road really did get to you, didn't they?" Zelgadis said, half-teasingly. "I have to admit, I was never sure positive emotions affected you that much."

"As a matter of fact, they usually don't, although I certainly don't find it pleasant to have life-affirming slogans chanted in my face! It was worse than I thought it would be in the valley, though. It's not so much the happiness itself as the utter lack of negative, dark emotions that drains me. Even so, the effect is much more drastic since I can't draw on my usual reserves of power from the other realm. Now, after what you told me, I understand that it isn't the Relics themselves but their effect on the humans who wear them that creates this shield against negative emotions. No doubt that was Shimer's plan, which the Shrine Keepers have followed perfectly."

"Yes, they certainly have," Zelgadis muttered, remembering the insidious spells on the bracelet and Zuller's wheedling explanation. In spite of everything Xelloss had done, he still felt a great deal more trust and sympathy for the Mazoku priest than he did for the human Shrine Keeper. Maybe that only meant he was a fool, but he wouldn't know for certain if he was or not until he and Xelloss arrived at the Shrine.

Before midday, however, he realized that their pace was growing slower. Xelloss appeared to be fine, but his steps had started to lag again, so gradually that Zelgadis didn't notice at first. He'd thought that Xelloss had been exaggerating his weakness on the High Road, but now he guessed that, on the contrary, he was doing his best to hide it.

He remembered how Xelloss had managed to make their days short on the hike up the far side of the Haunted Ridge, making sure that they halted early each night before his true weakness started to show. That was before he'd been wounded a second time, and now, after his third encounter with Shimer's enchanted weapons, he was wearing out even more quickly.

Pretending not to notice anything, Zelgadis called for a break around noon. They stopped under the shade of a small tree that grew near one of the barge moorings. He sat on the low rail beside the barge path and watched a flock of workers loading a barge with sacks of beans and crates of fruit.

Xelloss stood nearby and stared silently across the flat land toward the High Road. It had drawn a little closer, Zelgadis realized, as both roads converged toward the hill in the middle of the plain, although they would never actually meet. Even so, it had become much easier to make out the flash of beads and gems on the travelers even without his enhanced sight. Someone with sharp enough eyes might look this way and recognize the figures of the Chimera and the Priest who had become so famous. At least he didn't see any of the Soldiers of Shimer marching away from the Shrine. It must have been luck that they hadn't met any of them until they came to Midtown, but that luck could run out again.

Nearer at hand, the bargeman flailed his arms and shouted instructions to the workers. Finally the woman driving the cart yelled back at him for ordering her crew around as if they didn't know their jobs. He swore at her; she swore back much more creatively while her crew hid their smiles and went on with their work. The bargeman threw up his hands and walked away, muttering under his breath.

Zelgadis saw that Xelloss had cocked his head to listen, as if he'd caught the sound of a lovely strain of music. Zelgadis nudged his arm.

"It looks like we've found our grumpy bargeman," he said.

Xelloss blinked at him in surprise. "Oh?"

"Why not? I could use a change from walking all the time, and we'll be less visible from the High Road in case any of our fan clubs are out looking for us. If we can persuade him to take us, that is."

Reeler, the bargeman, looked them up and down with a scowl on his weathered face when they asked to be taken along to Crystal River.

"M'not a taxi," he said gruffly. Then he muttered, "Can't afford to run them anymore anyways, what with all the fees going up all the time."

Xelloss held out a handful of coins. "Will this help with those fees that pesky council keeps raising?" he offered sweetly.

The bargeman's bushy, grey eyebrows shot up, but he hid his eagerness with a shrug. "I guess it could do for the trip up to the River," he said grudgingly. "Just climb in at the back, there, and don't go poking around in anything!"

Before long he pushed off from the mooring and headed out into the slow stream of the canal. They settled as comfortably as they could on sacks of beans near the back of the barge.

"How romantic!" Xelloss said, leaning back in his bean-sack seat.

"Don't talk like that, it doesn't suit you," Zelgadis muttered.

"Oh, but isn't that how newlyweds talk?"

"That was a joke," Zelgadis said irritably. "As if you didn't know."

"You mean we aren't newlyweds?" Xelloss asked with an exaggerated pout.

"Of course not!"

"Not even engaged?"

"No!"

Zelgadis stood and took a few steps away, thoroughly agitated by Xelloss' mockery. It didn't help a bit when he heard Xelloss chuckle softly behind him.

"Kari-sama was so right, you are adorable when you blush like that!"

Zelgadis turned around and glared. Xelloss leaned back with a contented sigh. Zelgadis gave up and stalked away, as well as one could stalk away while climbing over sacks of beans on a moving barge.

He stood still at the back of the barge and watched the water slip by in soft waves. The banks of the canal seemed to float past slowly. He could walk faster than this barge was moving, and normally they would have reached Crystal River much earlier than the innkeeper had estimated. But if Xelloss continued to slow their pace, they wouldn't have reached their destination by nightfall, if they reached it at all. He had a fleeting thought of going on to the Shrine by himself, but he knew he wouldn't do that now, no matter how much Xelloss irritated him. Not unless Xelloss really did lie down and die on the way.

That thought replaced his irritation with a cold chill. He shook his head at himself. What was happening to the cold-hearted sorcerer-swordsmen he'd always meant to be? He couldn't fool himself with that idea, though. He'd only ever been hotheaded around Xelloss, and now that heat was turning into something else entirely, no matter how much he knew better.

After a while he gave up brooding and went back to sit out the rest of the ride. He stopped short when he came in sight of Xelloss leaning back against his bean-sack pillow, hands relaxed around the staff resting across his lap, hair falling into his eyes... fast asleep.

Zelgadis stared down at him for a minute. Once again he had to fight the urge to stroke his dark hair and touch his face, but it was so much stronger now it made his fingers twitch.

"Damn Mazoku," he muttered in a voice as soft as the water lapping the sides of the barge.

He drew his eyes away with an effort. Reeler stood nearby, leaning against a crate and gazing at the featureless landscape as if it had suddenly become immensely interesting. The man scratched the back of his neck and muttered something even Zelgadis couldn't hear, but the corner of his mouth twitched as if something was trying to tug it upward against his will.

Zel watched curiously for a few seconds, wondering what he'd seen that had him muttering again, but Reeler fell silent. Deciding it was nothing but Reeler's habit, he went to sit beside Xelloss on the sacks of beans. Xelloss sighed a little in his sleep and his fingers twitched, but he didn't show any signs of waking up.

Sitting there beside him and staring at nothing, Zelgadis felt his skin prickle a moment later. He glanced up to catch the bargeman watching them out of the corner of his eye. His mouth still twitched; he seemed both irritated and amused. In fact, he had a look in his eye very much like the one the innkeepers had given them this morning. Zel groaned inwardly when he finally realized what Reeler must be thinking.

He had no idea why the bargeman would think that, though. The man couldn't possibly know how much he was fighting the desire to put his arms around Xelloss and pull him close. Xelloss must have made some suggestive comment while he was off brooding. At least the man wasn't leering, as he probably would be doing if he'd heard one of Xelloss' jokes.

Zelgadis clenched his fists in his lap. There was no way he was going to do anything that might confirm the bargeman's opinion of their relationship. Unless...

Unless there was a purely practical excuse to do what he wanted to do anyway. Maybe it was Xelloss' turn to wake up to a little surprise, after all.

Careful not to awaken the sleeping Mazoku, he slid his arm around him and gently pulled him over to rest his head on Zel's shoulder. He knew his stony shoulder didn't make a very soft pillow, but somehow he didn't think Xelloss would mind. Watching the bargeman out of the corner of his eye, he rested his chin on the soft hair and sighed loud enough to be heard over the gurgle of the water.

The bargeman rolled his eyes and turned away, muttering words that Zel caught easily: "All over each other... no modesty... s'pose I should stop 'em or somethin'..." He didn't do anything of the sort, but he had a sentimental gleam in his eye when he snuck another look at them. Zelgadis grinned smugly against Xelloss' hair, a grin worthy of the Trickster Priest himself.

To make sure he didn't defeat the purpose of the exercise, he murmured affectionately against Xelloss hair. "You damn, disgusting, lying, annoying heap of garbage!" he said sweetly while thinking of one of those times he'd been tempted to rip Xelloss limb from limb. The bargeman heard the tone but not the words' he shook his head and walked away still muttering. Xelloss, on the other hand, sighed happily in his sleep.

He remained that way, asleep or in whatever state passed for sleep with one of his kind, while the afternoon wore on. Zelgadis watched as the brown smudge on the land ahead became the roofs and low buildings of a town. It looked shabby even from this distance, in contrast to the crystal towers gleaming on the hill behind it.

Xelloss finally stirred at the sound of voices from one of the mooring docks they floated past. By that time he'd slid lower until he was nearly lying with his head in Zel's lap. Zelgadis was gratified by the look of confusion that appeared on his face when he found himself looking up into Zel's smiling eyes. Zel touched a finger to his lips and his eyebrows shot upward.

"Zelgadis-san? Did I miss something important?"

"I had some time to think while you were resting so soundly," Zelgadis said softly. "Besides the fact that our bargeman friend finds it amusing, it occurred to me that there might be a good reason for letting people think we're newlyweds, or about-to-be-weds, after all."

"A good reason?" Xelloss seemed a bit distracted by the way Zel's finger traced the curve of his mouth.

"You're going to the Shrine undercover, aren't you? What better disguise for a Mazoku than as part of a romantic couple? After all, everyone knows your kind can't fall in love."

Xelloss stared up at him silently for a second, then he reached up to take Zel's hand and kiss his fingertips. "I see. I've been a very good influence on you, haven't I!"

Zel huffed indignantly. "The gods know why I should go out of my way to help you like this," he muttered.

Xelloss grimaced at the mention of the gods. "Is that a nice thing to say to your sweetheart?"

He sat up and leaned in with one arm braced across Zelgadis so they were face to face. Zel wasn't surprised that he was already taking advantage of his idea. He'd expected no less, but he wasn't planning to let it go too far -- only far enough to keep Zuller and anyone else at the Shrine off their guard until they found what they were looking for. Naturally, Xelloss wouldn't see it that way.

A gloved finger touched the bits of stone on his face before trailing down to his throat. Zel didn't flinch and managed to hide the shiver the caress inspired, even when Xelloss sent a spark of heat into his skin and leaned in closer. Zel let his eyes drift closed and leaned forward just a little, as if inviting a kiss.

Just before their lips touched, they were startled apart by a sharp, grumpy voice.

"Hey, now, enough of that, you lovebirds! Save it for the honeymoon suite, will ya?"

Reeler trailed off into more grumbling and head shaking. Zelgadis chuckled as Xelloss drew back with a sly look in his eyes.

"Ah, if only the circumstances were different, Zel-kun," he said quietly. "I would never let a fool like that stop me!"

Zel did shiver then, but Xelloss turned away and settled beside him on the sacks of beans with his arm around Zel's shoulders.

"Forgive our eagerness, Reeler-sama," he said with the utmost politeness. "We've waited so long for this chance to be together! How much longer will it be before we reach that town, may I ask?"

"We'll meet the River in a bit over an hour," Reeler answered gruffly. "After that, a little longer while we cross to unload at the docks in Underhill. It'll be getting dark by the time we get tied up at dock. Planning to stay the night in town there? "

"Why, yes, I suppose we should, and then go on to the Shrine in the morning," Xelloss said. "Wouldn't you agree, Zel-kun?"

Zelgadis smiled just as sweetly as Xelloss had spoken.

"I suppose we can wait one more night before we start our new lives at the Shrine," he said.

"Doesn't look much like waiting to me," Reeler muttered under his breath, obviously not intending they should hear that part.

"My father's cousin has a boarding house not far from the docks," Reeler went on in a normal voice. "Nothing fancy, you see, but fair enough of a place for a night or two. Underhill doesn't have any fancy places anymore; my aunt Rita's place is about as good as any you'll find there."

"Isn't Underhill where all the famous jewelers live and work?" Xelloss asked curiously. "I thought it would be the most splendid town in the Valley!"

"T'was, once. Not many of the great craftspeople live there anymore, though. Stuff is made all over the Valley, mostly piecework done by farmers who can't afford to farm anymore. They don't make the Jewels of Shimer the way they used to, you should know. Not much left to Underhill but the loading docks where the things are brought to be blessed at the Shrine and then shipped out to the merchants."

He settled against his crate again and scowled down at them. "My mother was the last in a long line of crafters who made the finest old silver pieces you ever saw, but they don't care for fine work anymore, just fast work. Aunt Rita says it doesn't much matter what it looks like. She's got the ugliest rings on her fingers I ever saw, my mother would retch at the sight of 'em, but she says they took all the stiffness right out of her bones as soon as she put 'em on, and she won't part with 'em for anything. Blessed Power of Shimer, she says! Well, he may have blessed power but he didn't have a blessed bit of taste, and no respect for good work. She says I should try 'em for my sore back, but my mother would curse me from her grave if I did"

He frowned at them as if he expected them to argue about it. Zelgadis wasn't about to argue in favor of the Relics, but he was interested to hear yet more evidence of the Shrine Keepers' greed and its ill effect on the inhabitants of the valley. Seeing him scowl at the bargeman's words, Xelloss patted his arm reassuringly, like a fussy old aunt himself.

"How much further is it to the Shrine from Aunt Rita's place?" Zelgadis asked.

"I've never been up to Crystal City," the man said, "But I guess it's not much more than an hour or so on strong legs. There's a winding old road up from Underhill, or you can go down south a bit and join the High Road near the bridge and go right into the city that way. There might still be a taxi-boat running down the river from Underhill to the bridge; a few merchants who still deal with the old crafters in town go that way now and then."

They thanked him for his information. With one last scowl to threaten them to behave themselves, he lumbered off to check on their progress and get his cargo ready for unloading.

(- - - - )

The lamps were already lit in the streets of Underhill when they said farewell to Reeler and set out from the dock to look for Aunt Rita's boarding house. Above them on the hill, the light of the setting sun made the crystal towers of Shimer's city look like they'd been set on fire. Xelloss grinned when he saw this.

"Considering how much your kind hates Shimer," Zelgadis asked, "wouldn't it have saved a lot of trouble if you'd just destroyed both of his shrines ages ago?"

"There was no specific reason to do so, as far as we knew. Destroying a shrine that commemorates a mere mortal would have meant admitting Shimer had been a real threat to us. It would have been beneath our dignity to do so!"

"Mazoku logic!" Zelgadis snorted. "Your pride worked against you this time. Come to think of it, Shimer probably counted on that. He knew you wouldn't destroy the source of the Curse, at least not until it had time to grow and spread among you, By then, he thought, you'd already be too weak to do it. Quite clever of him, actually."

"Please! I feel horrible enough as it is without being forced to admit that a mere human outwitted my entire race!"

"He hasn't succeeded yet," Zelgadis said.

"Ah," Xelloss sighed quietly. "But neither have I."

Zelgadis chuckled. He still doubted Shimer's real power was all that impressive, in spite of the Soldiers and their mysterious weapons. He'd been in enough battles against the Mazoku and seen Xelloss in action often enough to know which side he would bet on when it came down to it.

"I'm sure you'll manage to destroy this thing, one way or another," he said reassuringly.

However, thinking of this and seeing the crystal city reminded Zelgadis that they had no idea what they would find when the got there. They didn't even know what the Shrine of Shimer actually was; no one had ever described it. Would they find an ordinary object, a great jewel or crystal, or a kiln in which the strange weapons were forged? Or maybe a statue of Shimer himself in all his ridiculous finery? It could be nearly anything in which Shimer had placed his power. They wouldn't know until tomorrow when the Chief Shrine Keeper led them to it.

(- - - - )

Like any port town built in the bend of a river, the streets of Underhill ran in all directions and criss-crossed each other at random, but they found Rita's place quickly enough from Reeler's directions. The boarding house was as brown and dingy as the rest of the town, a narrow, two story building with only one light burning in a downstairs window. It didn't look promising, but they didn't care to hunt around for any better place to spend the night.

Rita was an old woman, still bent with age in spite of the many Relics on her fingers, but her eyes sparkled when she saw them come in together. She looked them up and down as Reeler had done, only with less suspicion, and her face crinkled happily when they mentioned his name.

"Well, nice of the boy to send me some business! I don't see travelers from out of town too often anymore. You're out of your way a bit if you're headed to the Shrine, you know!"

"The High Road is so crowded with people," Xelloss said fussily, "And besides, we wanted a little time alone together. Isn't that so, Zel-kun?"

Zel nearly choked when Xelloss somehow managed to flutter his eyelashes without quite revealing his eyes. He grimaced back as sweetly as he could manage. Aunt Rita giggled.

"Oh, my, my! Well, you two won't be the first to make your vows together at the Shrine! You know, some folks say - well, I don't know if it's true or not! - but they used to say Shimer had a boyfriend once upon a time. Some say he died of a curse of dark magic or was killed by a demon, and some say he was sickly with some trouble in his heart. That's supposed to be why Shimer became a healer and fought all those monsters, because of having a broken heart after his sweetheart died!"

Zelgadis' jaw dropped. Xelloss looked just as surprised but much more amused.

"Now, there's something I never knew about Shimer!" Xelloss said happily. "Imagine that!"

Aunt Rita handed them a key from behind her desk and winked at them. "Mind you, I don't know if it's true! Maybe it's just a romantic tale someone dreamed up way back when. All the girls swooned over Shimer, you know, and a few boys did too. He was such a fine-looking, kindly, brave young man. But it's a fact he never married, so there you are!"

Zelgadis couldn't understand why this story brought the bounce back to Xelloss' step, but it certainly seemed to do so. Rita came hobbling around the desk to show them to their room on the second floor, but they waved her back and insisted that she didn't need to climb the stairs for them. She sank gratefully back into her chair.

Xelloss trotted up the stairs and Zelgadis followed more slowly. He was starting to wish that they'd gone on up the hill tonight, or at the very least, that they'd taken separate rooms. He shouldn't have let Xelloss sleep so long on the barge; he was all too lively and full of mischief now for Zel's comfort.

He paused in the doorway to their room. Xelloss stood just inside, fist pressed to his mouth to try and hide the biggest grin Zelgadis had ever seen on him. That didn't bode well. He peered cautiously into the room.

"What is so amusing... oh."

The room was small, with flowered curtains in a window, silk flowers in a vase on the dresser, and a flowered spread on the one and only bed - and that wasn't very big, either. It was probably Rita's romantic idea of a honeymoon suite, he thought with a sigh, but at least it wasn't decorated with lace and heart-shaped pillows.

Xelloss gave up trying to hide his amusement and stood back with a gesture for Zel to enter the room. Just as he crossed the threshold, Xelloss turned away to sweep off his cloak and toss it onto the room's single chair along with his staff. He whirled around again to shove the door closed and trap Zel against it.

"I like playing this newlywed game," he said in a breathy voice in Zel's face.

Zel froze and cursed himself for letting this happen. But he was only fooling himself, and not very well at that. He'd known perfectly well what might happen when they were alone again. He'd done nothing to avoid it.

"We're not..." he began, but Xelloss stopped him with a fingertip to his lips.

"Of course not," he said. "But I'm going to kiss you anyway, my foolish Chimera."

Zelgadis didn't have breath enough to protest when Xelloss' finger slipped away to be replaced by his lips. Surprisingly gentle, challenging him to resist, Xelloss sucked on his lip and nipped very lightly with his teeth. Zelgadis flattened himself back against the door; he could burst backward through it to get away, if it came to that. But when Xelloss pressed against him he lost control of his hands. Instead of pushing the priest away as he intended, they went around Xelloss' waist to pull him closer.

It was no good, Zelgadis realized. He couldn't even muster up enough anger to hide his desire, and when Xelloss discovered those feelings inside him, he would probably laugh triumphantly. Then there would be no end to the mockery and torment. But for the moment it didn't matter. He clutched convulsively at Xelloss' back, and in response, Xelloss plastered himself more firmly against Zel and deepened the kiss. Xelloss began to squirm and roll against him, making sure he could feel just how trapped he was.

Suddenly, Zelgadis discovered something else he'd never known about Mazoku. He gasped at the feel of something stiff poking him in the hip. His eyes flew wide open and he jerked his head back so fast that some of his hair got stuck in the door.

"Is that real?" he sputtered.

Xelloss chuckled low in his throat. "Do you mean this?" he answered, rubbing himself against Zel's leg so that the bulge was even more noticeable. "No, of course not! It's just a pole I borrowed from the bargeman!"

He slipped his hand behind Zel's head and gently tugged him free of the door, leaving a few strands of hair behind, and then pressed his lips against Zel's cheek.

"I said I wanted you, didn't I? I hope you didn't think that was a joke as well."

"I didn't... " Zel began. But that was exactly what he had been thinking. "I didn't think it was possible for you to want anyone that way."

That had been his last defense, that Xelloss had no human body and couldn't feel this kind of desire, and now it crumbled beneath his fingertips as they slipped from Xelloss' waist up under his shirt, and found smooth skin over rippling muscle and solid bone. But it wasn't only this physical evidence that finally convinced him Xelloss meant what he said. It was the hungry way he said the words, with a touch of regret, as if he knew he shouldn't want Zelgadis like this but couldn't help himself. It was the way he held Zel's face in his hands now, his mouth hovering near Zel's lips as if he was teasing himself with what he shouldn't have.

"You also said that if I wanted you, it wouldn't be any good for you," Zelgadis reminded him in a whisper, letting their lips brush together as he spoke. "If that's true, we have a problem..." He moved against Xelloss until that surprising hardness met his own. "... Because I do want you, Xelloss. Did you think it was only because you tricked me into feeling this way? It isn't, damn you..."

Xelloss paused with his eyebrows raised but his eyes closed. Zelgadis gave in to the desire he'd been trying to hide so that the Mazoku could feel it. Xelloss smiled slowly.

"I wondered why you weren't furious after what I did to you this morning!" he murmured. "And how you managed to tease me... I thought you hated me far too much for this, Zelgadis-san."

"I can hate you if you want me to. If that's what'll make it good for you..."

He bit Xelloss' lip, and suddenly they were locked in a bruising kiss as if trying to devour each other, fingers digging into each other's flesh, and then Zelgadis pulled Xelloss to the side and they were falling onto that one bed which didn't seem too small after all.

---

To be continued...

Next: Now that they've both finally got a clue, what are they going to do with it? Naturally, they're going to make the most of the time they've got before heading for the Shrine in the morning to face whatever awaits them there! (Who needs sleep, anyway?)


	10. Chapter 10

Title: Poison (chapter 10 of 13 or so)

Author: Tsutsuji

Date written: August 3-4, 2005

Fandom: Slayers

Rating: M for yaoi

Pairings: Zelgadis/Xelloss

Type: yaoi/slash, adventure

Warnings: hurt/comfort, angst

Status: in progress.

Spoilers: no

Disclaimer: I do not own the copyright to these characters and I'm making no profit from this fic and intend no copyright infringement.

Summary: Zelgadis and Xelloss make several startling discoveries about each other - and one about the Curse of Shimer. Lemon alert!

RE-REVISED version 8/16/05 - revised for safety with the M (R) rating and a few other changes.

Feedback is always greatly appreciated. Thanks for all the great reviews so far! More angst, sexual tension and startling revelations yet to come!

---

Poison, chapter 10

---

It only seemed like magic that made boots, gloves, shirts, and trousers disappear, until they were lying together on the flowered bedspread, rough, stone skin against pale, smooth skin. Zelgadis stared into Xelloss' half-opened eyes; he'd never seen such a look of surprise on that face before.

Xelloss rolled onto his back and then pulled Zelgadis down and writhed beneath him, and drew his head down with his delicate-seeming fingers twisted in Zel's metallic hair. He caught Zel's mouth in a deep kiss, pressing his tongue over demon-sharp teeth.

His skin felt human but he tasted of magic, a tangy sweetness Zelgadis sometimes tasted when the air was full of magical energy. It was good and he wanted more of it, so he pulled out of the kiss to lick Xelloss' face and down to his throat while Xelloss rippled under him like silk.

Xelloss stroked his stiff hair and caressed the tips of his ears, twisting under him, constantly seeking more contact. Zelgadis nipped the soft skin at the base of his throat. Throwing his head back, Xelloss gasped and arched up against Zel's mouth.

Zelgadis hardly believed that his touch could affect anyone so much. It couldn't only be his emotions that the Mazoku wanted after all, because in spite of what he'd said, he couldn't hate Xelloss right now even though he tried. But Xelloss seemed to savor the roughness of his skin, rubbing his body against the hard flakes of stone and twisting his legs around Zel's for as much contact as possible.

For his side of it, Zelgadis was amazed by the instensity of Xelloss' touch, not just from his hands but from all of the places where their skin made contact. His stone body was not entirely insensitive, but he'd never felt so much sensation before, as if Xelloss could reach inside his skin and stimulate every nerve. The warmth was the most surprising thing, just as it had been that morning when it was only Xelloss' mouth and hands that touched him. The full body contact they shared now enveloped him in luscious heat.

Stripped only down to briefs, Zelgadis discovered with no surprise that Xelloss wore nothing but his human skin under his priest's trousers, sash and shirt. He would never have to wonder again about all that was suggested by the loose, clinging curves of fabric. If it was all an illusion, it was a perfect one, and for once he was perfectly willing to be deceived.

He managed to pull away from Xelloss' hungry mouth and hands so he could sit back and straddle his thighs. He gazed down on the body revealed for him. Taut muscles rippled under flawless skin, and Zel ran his fingertips wonderingly over nipples that grew harder under his touch. He spread his fingers over the firm planes and curves of Xelloss' chest and stomach. Xelloss squirmed and pressed his hands over Zel's, so Zel dug harder with his rough fingers, leaving marks on the pale skin. He moved his hands lower slowly, partly in apprehension and partly to tease.

Xelloss' half-closed eyes were almost black and his soft, bruised lips were parted. His dark hair spread out like a shadow on the flowered bedcover beneath him. Zelgadis had never seen his face so openly before, and never imagined he'd see it as flushed and eager as this without being afraid.

"Did you have to be quite so perfect?" he said, letting his eyes wander all over Xelloss' body.

"It really wasn't my choice," Xelloss whispered breathlessly, apparently too distracted by Zel's touch to explain further.

Cautiously, teasingly, Zelgadis let his fingers brush over that hardness that had surprised him so much a few minutes ago. Xelloss shuddered and hissed through his teeth, and then caught Zel's wrist in his powerful grip. He had that look again of wanting something that he knew he shouldn't want. Zel couldn't pull his hand away, but Xelloss wouldn't let him move it either.

He narrowed his eyes defiantly and twisted his wrist against Xelloss' hold with a snarl of frustration. Xelloss grunted as if the emotion had hit him physically, and his hold loosened so Zelgadis could continue his exploration. He was beyond wonder at the fact that he'd never touched anyone like this before, not even himself. He only knew that his shadowy desire for Xelloss had suddenly become very real and specific.

Seeing Xelloss respond to him like this was incredibly arousing, and of course, Xelloss noticed this. He pushed himself up on his elbows with his eyes fastened on the bulge growing under Zel's black briefs. Unconsciously, maybe, the tip of his tongue darted out to touch his lip. Reminded of the heat of Xelloss' tongue and mouth on him this morning, Zelgadis groaned. The Mazoku's soft laugh was even more arousing than his touch.

Finally it seemed Xelloss had been teased enough for the moment. He pulled Zel down on top of himself again with a strong hand at the back of his neck and pressed their bodies tightly together. The heat and firm silk of Xelloss against his rough skin made Zel gasp and curl his fingers into Xelloss' shoulders.

Seconds later, Zelgadis found himself on his back with his arms and legs flung wide. Xelloss tore the final bit of fabric off of his body and then settled himself between Zel's thighs. He licked his smiling lips hungrily as he looked down at Zel spread out beneath him.

Exposed like this for the second time in a day, Zel's desire was now stronger than the shame he felt for his horrid body, and stronger than the fear he felt when Xelloss leaned over him with his lips twisted in a feral smile. He tried to ignite some anger inside himself to give to Xelloss, but he couldn't find any. The best he could do was to struggle with himself, hating and fearing his own desire. It seemed to be enough. Xelloss closed his eyes and moaned softly.

When Xelloss lifted his hips and reached between his thighs, Zel's struggle with himself intensified. He knew what Xelloss intended to do and the thought of it terrified and aroused him at the same time. It was too much and too soon, he thought desperately; they had only just discovered their desire for each other. But he'd never felt a need so great as his urgent need to be touched this way. He was helpless against his body's desire for Xelloss, and suddenly he hated himself for it.

He heard Xelloss sigh quietly, as if the power of Zel's emotion was a caress. He knelt with his knees under Zel's hips and his head bowed, as if he struggled with something inside himself as well.

"I need to do this now," he whispered.

Zelgadis knew what he meant, but he didn't say anything. He held his breath and waited. Slowly and deliberately, Xelloss began to prepare him for what he had planned.

Zelgadis was surprised by a shockwave of pleasure that raced through his body in response to the intimate touch of Xelloss' hands. His let anger at his helplessness grow along with his arousal, convincing himself he hated this.

Xelloss leaned down over him. Zel's eyes grew wide when Xelloss opened his own eyes all the way once again.

"Your hatred tastes wonderful, Zelgadis-san," he crooned in a low voice, "but I can't tell what it comes from. Do you hate me for doing this to you, or do you hate yourself for wanting it so much?"

Zelgadis stared at him for a second, speechless with shock and denial. Then his need and longing and horror flared so strongly that Xelloss looked like he'd been hit with some astral spell the shaman had unleashed. A second later Xelloss' eyes flashed. He bowed his head so that his hair screened his face, but Zel saw him smile as he increased the stimulation. The Mazoku's heated touch melted Zel's resistance, even though he trembled nervously at the thought of what was still to come.

Without thinking - because it was becoming very difficult to think anyway - he pulled Xelloss down for another deep kiss and nipped soft lips with his sharp teeth. Xelloss growled and returned the favor by sinking his teeth into Zel's throat, but the bite was hardly painful on Zel's tough skin; instead, it was just one more point of erotic stimulation. Zelgadis gasped and fell back, overwhelmed by sensation.

He hardly noticed when Xelloss drew back and pushed his knees up to his chest, but suddenly he realized what was just about to happen to him. Instinctively he struggled and tried to pull away, but he was trapped now with Xelloss' arms hooked around his legs and the full weight of his body pinning him down.

"Oh, yes," Xelloss breathed, bent low over his face. "Stop me, if you can, Chimera. If you really want to."

Hearing those words, Zelgadis knew he didn't want to, but he tried anyway. Only for Xelloss' sake he struggled and squirmed, only because it made Xelloss' skin grow even hotter, and even though he knew the monster would win in the end anyway.

Sudden pain stopped his breath; he felt a burning pressure as Xelloss took him with one quick movement. He cried out and went rigid. He could almost feel Xelloss drawing on his pain and helplessness. The Mazoku sighed happily and pushed harder. Zelgadis struggled for real; for a few seconds the pain was terrible, but then it began to meld with a sharp pleasure that made him gasp. It was unbearable, terrifying, to feel so much so suddenly. He dug his fingers into Xelloss' back and began to move in time with him, desperate for more of it even if it felt like it would tear him apart.

Zelgadis tried to hate what was happening to him and what he was feeling, but he no longer succeeded. All he could find to give to the Mazoku was his desperate need for a release of the sensations spiraling tighter in side him, and a stab of despair when he realized they might never have another moment like this together.

Xelloss cried out and pressed his face against Zel's neck as his body spasmed. His dark hair fell across Zel's eyes like a heavy veil. The sound he made was almost a sob, but Zelgadis couldn't guess if it was bliss or some despair of his own that made it. The dark heat of Xelloss' energy filled him and engulfed him inside and out. With that energy pulsing through him, he hung on the precipice of his own release for a few more seconds before he plunged over the edge into welcoming oblivion.

----

Zelgadis woke up. At first, that was all he could figure out: he'd been unconscious and now he was awake. Then he remembered that he'd been in pain and now he felt better than he'd ever felt in his life. Then he remembered why. He'd just given his virginity to a Mazoku whom he'd once hated with all his soul--and he had no regrets.

He opened his eyes to see Xelloss stretched alongside him. One soft hand rested on his thigh, the other stroked his wire-like hair. The Mazoku's eyes were closed but he looked content, and that was unnerving. A Mazoku should only look that happy if someone else was in misery, and despite some lingering pain, Zelgadis felt anything but miserable.

Impulsively, he turned his head and kissed the upturned corner of Xelloss' mouth. Xelloss opened one eye and quirked an eyebrow. He seemed to study Zel silently for a moment through that one eye, or maybe he was gauging Zel's emotions. The upraised eyebrow twitched as if in surprise.

"It seems I've been foolish as well," Xelloss said. "Even when I sensed desire in you, Zel-san, I never thought it could be for me."

Zelgadis didn't bother to confirm that it had been all along, even before he knew it himself. He figured he'd demonstrated that fact pretty clearly.

"Did I enjoy it too much for you this time?" he asked, partly in jest, but he remembered that he hardly managed to hate Xelloss as he'd said he would.

"Not at all!" Xelloss said mildly. Zelgadis wasn't sure what that tone of voice meant, but then Xelloss gave him a sly smile. "I'm supposed to be the one to ask if I hurt you, aren't I?"

Zelgadis snorted. "If you ask that, I'll be very worried about you! Anyway, if I was human... but since I'm not, you needn't worry."

As he spoke, he realized he might want to take a moment later for a little Recovery spell, but it wouldn't take much to heal the damage Xelloss had done. He didn't mind the ache of it, actually. It remained as evidence of Xelloss' desire for him, which he still could hardly believe was real.

Xelloss sighed. "You still refuse to think of yourself as a human, only one with the greater spiritual capacity of a magical being and this marvelous body, which you despise and which I admire. You are so durable, Zelgadis-san, and yet so flexible!"

Xelloss grinned in direct proportion to Zel's blush. He'd never thought of himself as "flexible" before, and certainly not in the suggestive way Xelloss said the word.

In spite of Xelloss' admiration and in spite of how good he felt at the moment, he still hated his body. He turned his attention to Xelloss instead. While Xelloss watched him with an amused, indulgent grin, he ran his palm over the contours of the perfectly proportioned body. His hand grazed the smooth curves and planes of chest, hip, and thigh, and brushed lightly over the fading evidence of his arousal.

"This, on the other hand, is perfect," he whispered. "Beautiful, if that word can be said of Mazoku."

"It certainly isn't applied often to us by humans! I suppose we have our own standards of beauty, which have more to do with dark energy and power than with physical form. But I've lived among humans often enough to know what they mean by the word..."

Xelloss trailed his fingers again through Zel's silver strands of hair, down over his face and lips to the stone flakes on his chin. Zelgadis was glad he didn't say any more. It would have been too strange a thing for a Mazoku to say even if it was a lie, and stranger still if it wasn't.

"How ironic this is," Xelloss said softly. "Each of us trapped in a form we wish to be free of, and each of us desiring the other in that form. And at the end of another day, these forms may no longer exist at all."

Zelgadis was silent, remembering his unexpected moment of despair when he realized they might never be like this together again. Whether he was restored to human form tomorrow, or whether Xelloss ended the Curse and returned to his own true form, whatever was going on between them now would change. He wondered if that was why Xelloss had finally acted on his own desire. And if it was as strong as it seemed, he wondered if the Mazoku might have taken him like that even if he hadn't wanted it as well.

The thought should have disturbed him more than it did, he supposed. As it was, he'd gotten what he'd wanted. And at the very least, it looked like they would go on together to face whatever awaited them at the Shrine.

Lying there in the dark room in silence, Zelgadis started to wonder about the note of regret he'd just heard in Xelloss' voice. He'd heard it twice before, each time after Xelloss had been wounded. He studied Xelloss with concern. Half-opened eyes gleamed with pale amethyst light as they gazed into the darkness, focused on nothing; his mouth was set in a straight line, expressionless. For a moment Zel worried that he had actually harmed the Mazoku with his emotions.

But slowly it came to him that what he'd heard in Xelloss' voice wasn't really regret at all. It was resignation near to hopelessness. Whatever happened when they reached the Shrine, whether he succeeded or failed, Xelloss didn't even expect to return to his astral body. He expected it to disappear along with his human form. The stupid Mazoku was still planning to go and die anyway.

The flash of anger he felt caught him by surprise. After all Xelloss had already done to get this far, and after all Zelgadis had given him, the Mazoku thought he was just going to disappear at the end of it all. He couldn't believe it and he didn't want to accept it.

Xelloss must have felt his anger, but rather than looking pleased he turned to Zel with his eyebrows raised.

"Zelgadis-san?"

"Damn it, Xelloss!" Zelgadis burst out. "You really are on a suicide mission, aren't you? You self-centered bastard... I didn't even think it was possible for a Mazoku to give up and die like this!"

He knew his anger was twisted and fueled by other emotions he shouldn't have for Xelloss even now, but he couldn't help unleashing it anyway. Xelloss' eyes darkened. He consumed the emotion even as the meaning of the words sunk in.

Lavender eyes slowly opened and stared silently at him for a moment. Zelgadis felt a chill creep through him as he realized what he'd said. Xelloss' lips curved up in a slow smile.

"Your concern for me is touching," he said softly. "But you're quite right, Zelgadis-san. It's not possible. Or at least, it shouldn't be. Oh, Shimer was certainly clever, wasn't he?"

Understanding hit Zelgadis like a Burst Flare, abruptly shoving all his other feelings aside. Of course, he thought wildly; he should have realized it long ago. Not only should it not be possible for a Mazoku to feel such despair, it could actually be fatal.

"That's what's making you weak, isn't it?" he said. "I remember Lina explaining it to us once. Self-doubt, the belief that a human could defeat you, is your greatest weakness, isn't it? If you give in to it, that is. Shimer used that against you, along with your need for negative emotions. All he had to do was create a weapon that any human could use to harm you."

"So it seems," Xelloss said, still with the same soft voice. "The spell on those weapons affects our emotions much as the Relics affect human emotions. But in our case, the spell plants seeds of worry and doubt that have slowly grown over time as more of us are injured and lost."

"It seems that Shimer's particular magical talent was to weave various spells together into something much more powerful than the individual strands," Zelgadis said, remembering the multi-layered magic he'd sensed in the bracelets. "There must be another spell on the weapons as well, one of astral magic that seals your power away after it's siphoned off by your self-doubt. But if the actual seal is in the source at the Shrine, not in the weapons themselves, then destroying the source will break the seal and your power will return."

Xelloss said nothing, but frowned as he thought about what Zel was saying. His eyes gleamed a little more darkly as he considered this possibility.

"Shimer was very farsighted, as well," Zelgadis mused, staring up at the dark ceiling. "Just as he knew you wouldn't destroy the Shrine until it was too late, he planned for this process to take years. He knew it might be a hundred years after his lifetime before his Curse finally succeeded!"

Zelgadis turned to face Xelloss again. One corner of his mouth had lifted again in a grim smile. Zel imagined he was thinking of the destruction of Shimer's shrine. He never thought he'd be relieved to see the glint of malice return to those slitted eyes.

"I knew you weren't acting like yourself after you were injured," he said. "But it's no wonder it affected you more quickly each time; with every injury, your confidence wavered a little more."

"Very true," Xelloss admitted. "I have behaved strangely, haven't I? Normally, I would never have confided in you the way I did. I began to regret it as soon as I recovered some of my strength. "

Zelgadis chuckled. "Yes, it was a very strange thing for the ultimate keeper of secrets to do, even if I didn't believe you at first. But this time, Shimer's plan may have backfired against him."

Zelgadis grinned maliciously. Xelloss gave him a questioning look.

"In your moment of despair," Zelgadis said, "you confided in the one person with the unique nature to resist Shimer's spells on humans, and whose emotions you could still feed upon - and who has his own reasons to hate Shimer, or at least his Shrine Keepers."

Xelloss nodded. "Ah, I see! Unfortunately, relying on a human ally is also beneath our dignity," he added, only half jokingly.

"Well then, just continue to pretend you're only using me like you always do," Zelgadis said. He almost wished he hadn't said it as soon as the word left his lips. The secretive smile Xelloss gave him in the dark brought back too many of his earlier doubts.

"Do I do always do that?" Xelloss said in a musing voice. He traced the curve of Zel's jaw up to the ear with his thumb. "I'm afraid you make it far too easy for me to use you, Zel-chan."

Zelgadis caught his hand and stared at Xelloss, but once again, the Mazoku's eyes were hidden. After a few seconds, without pulling his hand away, Xelloss simply settled with his head nestled against Zel's shoulder. Zel couldn't see his face; as far as he could tell, Xelloss had gone to sleep.

He lay there staring up at the dark ceiling for a long time, aching with the simple pleasure of having Xelloss lying next to him, and trying not to think about anything at all.

---

It wasn't until the next morning when they were climbing the winding road above Underhill that he remembered what Xelloss had told him before: that any strength he gained from Zelgadis' emotions would be stolen away, and ever more quickly as time went on. Watching Xelloss use his staff like an old man's walking stick to help him climb the hill, he realized that this Mazoku, one of the most powerful of his kind, was nearly as weak as a human - and trying desperately to hide it.

Still, it seemed absurd to pity Xelloss, or even to offer to help. As far as he knew, that kind of concern would do more harm than good. But if what Xelloss had said yesterday morning was true, even his darker emotions might do just as much harm in the long run.

"I asked you the wrong question, didn't I?" he said with a humorless smile.

"Hmm?" Xelloss looked perplexed.

"When I asked if I enjoyed it too much, that wasn't the right question. Why did you make me feel like that last night if it was like drinking poison to you?"

Xelloss peered at him sidelong with one pale eye open.

"I told you. I couldn't resist you."

Zelgadis wanted to ask if it was really worth it, but he didn't. He knew how much he'd wanted it. In fact, he wanted Xelloss even more now than he had before. It was all he could do to keep himself from touching him as they walked side by side up the road. He would gladly turn aside from their path right now, even if it meant delaying his chance to be normal again, just to spend more time with Xelloss' body pressed against his as it had been all night.

He could afford to wait a little longer for his cure, but he wasn't sure Xelloss had that luxury. Clearly, he was even weaker than he had been yesterday. He could only hope that whatever anger he felt would still be useful, at least from one moment to the next. He was certainly going to feel more of it when they reached the Shrine and faced Zuller.

He realized that his hatred for the Shrine Keeper had grown even greater than it was before last night. He didn't question why a mortal should be so angry about a plot to defeat the evil race, just as he didn't question why Xelloss had given him ecstasy in return for his dark emotions even when they made him weaker in the long run. Even knowing the answers wouldn't make things any simpler when they reached the Shrine.

"If it's any help at all, I'm sure just seeing Zuller again will piss me off nicely. He might even get to see a little more of my demon side," he said.

"Ah, that would be amusing to see!" Xelloss said gleefully.

"Are you saying it wouldn't help you at all?"

It was the kind of blunt question he would never have expected an answer to in the past. For a minute he wasn't sure he was going to get one now, either. Xelloss walked along silently up the hill, face turned toward the Crystal City somewhere up ahead. Eventually he lowered his head and spoke quietly.

"Let's just say, for the moment, I'm only using my powers to maintain this human form-- my disguise, as you put it-- so that I can enter the Shrine. It's still as I said before, Zelgadis-san. As much as I love and crave the rich taste of your emotions, which the demon aspect of you makes more useful to me, the power I gain from them is being drawn off and sealed ever more quickly. I know how anxious you must be to reach the Shrine after waiting so long to find your cure. I'm only reserving all the power I have left so that I can do what I have to do when I get there."

He still sounded like he didn't plan to survive the destruction of the Shrine. Zelgadis shook his head in disgust.

"If I was Lina I'd be whacking you on the head about now," he said.

"Lina-san?" Xelloss asked, bewildered by his sudden mention of the sorceress. Zelgadis scowled at him.

"Yes, Lina. You know, that beautiful sorcery genius who never gives up no matter how badly the odds seem to be stacked against her? Haven't you ever heard one of her pep talks? If you start thinking you don't have much of a chance, it's like giving up what chance you do have."

He stopped short in his explanation. It might not be the best time to mention that she'd given that speech just before he and Gourry helped her defeat the Mazoku's Dark Lord, Shabranigdo. Even with his warped sense of humor, Xelloss might not find that amusing under the circumstances.

"Anyway," he went on after a few seconds, "ever since I've known you, even before I knew what you really are, I knew you were the kind who always gets what he wants and always expects to come out on top. You're quite a bit like Lina that way."

Xelloss grinned crookedly. "I suppose I should take that as a compliment?" he said doubtfully. "I'll try chanting 'believe in yourself, Xelloss!' a few times and see if that helps!"

Zelgadis laughed. "All right, that does sound absurd, doesn't it? Leave the chanting of affirmations to Amelia, then. Just..." he trailed off. What could Xelloss do to counteract the doubts Shimer had planted?

"Yes, it's not that simple," Xelloss said quietly, as if he knew what Zelgadis was thinking. "Shimer designed the perfect trap for us. Trying to think more positively as a human would doesn't exactly work for my kind, and only confirms that he has already harmed us."

Zelgadis couldn't think of a reply to that for a few seconds, but then he grinned.

"Well, just don't give up and die quite yet, please. It may not work for you, but I'm looking forward to seeing the looks on their faces when they finally realize, after it's too late, that they've invited a Mazoku to walk right into their precious Shrine! I wonder what Zuller and his Shrine Keepers will have to say to that?"

"We'll see, won't we?" Xelloss replied with a gleam in his eye. "Or rather, _they_ will see. You should be long gone by then. Once you're normal again, I highly recommend you depart from the Shrine as quickly as your little human legs will carry you!"

He grinned cockily, but Zelgadis shook his head.

"We'll see about that, too," he muttered. He was still far less optimistic than Xelloss was that the power of Shimer would restore him to normal. And even if it did, he didn't plan to run off and leave Xelloss alone to face the Shrine Keepers, even if that was exactly what Xelloss himself would do.

Xelloss paused. Zelgadis looked up from his brooding thoughts to see that they'd come in sight of the marble wall with its many open gateways. White walls and blue tiled roofs climbed up the hill beyond the wall, and above all the crystal spires glittered in the bright sun.

Below them to the right, they could also see the High Road and the white bridge across Crystal River. As usual, there was already plenty of traffic on the road even though it was still early in the day. No one else climbed up their road, but he could see people moving around in the streets of the city beyond the gate. Two figures stood near the gate as well, either guarding it or keeping watch.

"No Soldiers of Shimer, at least," Zelgadis observed.

The two people at the gate spotted them and started to wave excitedly. Zelgadis now saw that one was a young woman dressed in the silver robes of the Shrine Keepers, with gems that flashed on her neck and arms as she waved. She spoke quickly to the other, a teenage boy, and he sped off into the city. As they drew closer, Zelgadis saw the woman smile and clutch her hands in front of her chest as if she could barely contain her glee. A small knot of people was already gathering behind her, gesturing and talking together eagerly.

Xelloss smiled grimly. "This is going to be fun!" he said. Zelgadis couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not.

They started forward again. Zelgadis held his hand out in front of Xelloss, who looked at it with a puzzled expression.

"The rest of your disguise, remember?" Zelgadis said with a sly smile.

Xelloss grinned back at him, giving him one of those shocking glimpses of his lavender eyes, and took his hand.

The woman bobbed up and down in several quick bows when they reached the gate. She was flushed and jiggling with excitement, making her many bracelets and beads rattle loudly. Zelgadis gritted his teeth but Xelloss didn't flinch.

"Zelgadis-sama, Xelloss-sama, I'm so incredibly honored to be the first to welcome you to the Crystal City of Shimer!" she said in a breathless rush. "I'm Under-Assistant Shrine Keeper-in-Training Kemara. Please, allow me to escort you to the Hall of the Shrine. Chief Shrine Keeper Zuller-sama awaits your arrival!"

Xelloss had plastered his usual cheery smile to his face, the one that scrunched up his eyes so they couldn't be seen. Ducking his head and smiling demurely, Zelgadis squeezed his hand, and together they stepped through the gate into the Crystal City.

----

to be continued...

Next: Xelloss and Zelgadis face Zuller and the Keepers of the Shrine together, and the insidious Curse of Shimer threatens to turn Xelloss against Zelgadis.


	11. Chapter 11

Title: Poison (chapter 11 of 13 or so)

Author: Tsutsuji

Date written: July-August 2005

Fandom: Slayers

Rating: R for suggestiveness

Pairings: Zelgadis/Xelloss

Type: yaoi/slash, adventure

Warnings: hurt/comfort, angst

Disclaimer: I do not own the copyright to these characters and I'm making no profit from this fic and intend no copyright infringement.

Summary: Xelloss and Zelgadis face Zuller on the threshhold of the Shrine of Shimer.

Notes: Thanks for the reviews, sorry for the delay! Now, on with the angst!

---

Poison, chapter 11

---

Kemara's bushy, golden hair fluttered around her face as she led Zelgadis and Xelloss through the city streets. She had a quick, bouncing step, and she didn't seem quite as dignified as Zelgadis expected an Assistant Shrine Keeper in Training to be. He had the distinct impression that she would be just as talkative and cheerful even without Shimer's Relics.

"Chief Shrine Keeper Zuller-sama had a feeling you'd stay off the High Road!" she said cheerfully. "He set us all to watch at the Gates, and we were all a little concerned when you didn't arrive yesterday. I'm glad you didn't change your mind about coming to the Shrine, Zelgadis-sama!"

She paused and bit her lip as if she was about to add something that she shouldn't say. A second later she was chattering away about the different ways into the city, the traffic on the High Road, and whatever else came to her mind.

Zelgadis was distracted from her chatter by the sights and sounds of the Crystal City, and even more so by the firm warmth of Xelloss' gloved hand in his. After their quiet day on the canal and the sensory overload of the night before it all seemed a little overwhelming. He wasn't surprised by the excited, friendly stares of the crowd that began to appear along their route. However, either they were awed by the presence of an Under Assistant Shrine Keeper in Training, or the people of Crystal City were much more polite than people elsewhere in the Valley. They watched, smiled, and some of them waved, but no one took the liberty of running up to them like long-lost friends. Everyone here wore some of Shimer's jewelry, and most were glowing with health and happiness. Very few looked like they still needed to be cured of anything.

"Zuller-sama made it very clear to the Relic Sellers here in the city that you were not to be bothered by any of their sales pitches," Kemara said with a wave of her hand at the shops lining the streets.

Zelgadis laughed briefly. It was wise of Zuller to keep the Relic Sellers away from him, he thought. He might not have the good manners of the local people if he found any of their baubles dangling in his face.

"Zuller-sama and the Deputy Shrine Keepers are waiting for us at the Hall of the Shrine. They're all very anxious to meet you, of course!" Kemara rambled on. "Unfortunately, Assistant Shrine Keepers Argo and Vargas are away on their duties in other parts of the Valley. They have to inspect the gem shipments and the work being done by the makers of the Relics, all of that business, you know," she said with a wave of her hand. "They get to meet a lot of people that way, but they'll regret that they weren't here to witness your cure!"

"It is a shame that all the Keepers of the Shrine won't be present," Xelloss agreed.

Zelgadis noticed his little smile and decided that, on the contrary, Under Assistant Shrine Keepers Argo and Vargas were very fortunate that they were somewhere else on this particular day.

Among the crowd, Zelgadis noticed a few young men and women wearing the familiar silver robes and beaded collars, and from that as well as from the way Kemara raised her head a little higher when they passed, he assumed they were more Assistant Shrine Keepers in Training. But he did not see anyone carrying a weapon or wearing the grey hooded robes of the Soldiers of Shimer.

"I'm still surprised that the Shrine isn't heavily guarded," he said, gazing around like a curious tourist. "Won't we be seeing any of those Soldiers here at all?"

"No," Kemara answered shortly. "The latest squadron of them left the city yesterday. They don't stick around long after they receive their weapons and their marching orders." She turned her face away quickly. "Thank the gods," she muttered under her breath.

Zelgadis' eyebrows shot upward. He saw the corner of Xelloss' mouth twitch, but since Xelloss didn't say anything, he decided to hide his surprise as well.

The Hall of the Shrine came into view at the far end of a wide boulevard. At the top of a rise, it stood out even among the taller buildings of the city with its multifaceted blue roof shining like a cut gem. The octagonal building was built with its back nudged into the crown of the hill. Windows of stained glass gleamed in the white walls, and crystal towers and spires rose high above it.

With her broad stride, Kemara climbed the wide stone steps to the building quickly. He and Xelloss followed more sedately. When she was several steps ahead, Xelloss leaned toward Zelgadis.

"Did you notice her jewelry, Zel-san?" he asked in a low voice.

Zelgadis looked at him curiously, and then at Kemara as she ushered them through the tall doors into the Hall of the Shrine. It struck him as he passed close by her: there was no aura of magic at all in the Relics she wore.

Once again he hid his curiosity for the moment. At any rate, the room they'd entered demanded their attention. Blue-grey stone walls - a lot like the color of his own skin, he noticed uncomfortably - were reflected in a black, glasslike floor. Stained glass windows flanked the door where they entered, and multi-colored light from those windows fell on rows of narrow silk banners that hung from floor to ceiling. They began to walk along a sort of corridor between these banners toward a silver door studded with gems at the far end of the room.

It took several seconds for Zel's dazzled eyes to see that the design on the banners created a picture. On one side of the aisle, the mosaic showed Shimer in the act of healing a grateful woman. On the other side, Shimer's jewels flashed in a beam of light from the sky as he thrust his spear into the huge, skeletal monster at his feet.

"How inspiring," Zelgadis said with a glance at Xelloss.

"Yes, indeed," Xelloss murmured.

Kemara stopped midway along the aisle and turned to face them. She became very solemn; or at least, she made a heroic effort to be solemn.

"Welcome to the Hall of the Shrine of Shimer!" she said with a sweep of her arms and a bow. "The Shrine Keepers await you within the Great Hall beyond this room. Chief Shrine Keeper Zuller-sama himself will lead you to the Shrine from there."

She turned and gestured at the room around them with a pink blush spreading across her face. "This," she continued, "is the Hall of Disrobing."

They stopped in their tracks. Zelgadis felt his jaw drop

"Oh?" Xelloss sounded far too interested.

Kemara stifled a giggle and grinned like a schoolgirl. "Don't worry! You only have to take off your shirts and your shoes now. They don't make you take off everything anymore, like they used to!"

"What a shame that the old ways have changed!" Xelloss said with a sly smile at Zelgadis.

"No," Zelgadis said firmly. The thought of walking into the Shrine naked, with a naked Xelloss beside him, made him flush with more than embarrassment. "No, change is good."

Kemara giggled again and then gathered her dignity, although she still blushed a bright shade of pink. "You will have to leave your weapon, your staff, and your cloaks and bags here, as well."

Xelloss frowned thoughtfully at his staff. "I must admit, I've grown very attached to this in my travels," he sighed. "I had thought I might bring it to the Shrine as a symbolic offering."

Kemara shook her head. "No emblems or objects of magic, either white, black, or spirit, are permitted into the presence of the power of Shimer," she said, as if she was reading from a book of rules. "Shimer forswore the magic of the gods and the demons, and requires all of his Followers to do the same."

She paused and gave Xelloss a sympathetic smile. "I felt the same way when I had to give up my Shrine Maiden's robes to be initiated here," she said. "But after you've been touched with the power of Shimer, you won't want your staff or any other magic."

Curiosity finally got the better of Zelgadis. "You were a Shrine Maiden?" he asked.

"I was. Ever since I was a child, I wanted to be a healer. My grandmother was a famous healer in our country, you see. I began my training at the temple in her home town, but when I heard of Shimer's great healing power I knew I had to come here."

"And yet," Zelgadis said, "You don't actually wear the healing Relics yourself?"

She blushed a deeper shade of red and her eyes grew wide. "Oh! These..." she touched her bracelets and necklace nervously. "Oh dear, you can tell, can't you! Chief Shrine Keeper Zuller-sama mentioned that you were a Sorcerer, Zelgadis-sama. I forgot. Please," she continued urgently, "Don't mention this to him!"

"I promise I won't, but I have to wonder why an Assistant Shrine Keeper wears false copies of the Relics?"

"Well, you see... I came here to learn Shimer's healing magic, but then I found out that it isn't really Shimer's power at all that heals most of the people who come to the Valley. The Relics have great healing power of their own, I know, but I was terribly disappointed by the deception. I'm afraid I argued with the Shrine Keepers about it rather loudly."

"They didn't care to be argued with on this matter," Zelgadis guessed.

Kemara nodded. "I suspect that's why I'm still an Under-Assistant in Training after all the time I've been here," she said sheepishly. "I know it's to protect the Shrine, just as they say. But I don't like lying to all those people. That's why I'm so excited you've come here to the Shrine. If people see that you were healed here by the true Power of Shimer, then maybe they'll begin to realize..."

"That they're being lied to?"

Kemara bit her lip. Zelgadis touched her bracelet. She turned pink again as she looked down at his stone fingers on her wrist.

"What we're about to do here may accomplish at least part of what you wish," he said softly.

He turned away before he could see her face light up with hope. He remembered the other surprising thing he'd heard her say. "You don't approve of the Soldiers of Shimer either, do you?"

"I am a healer, Zelgadis-sama," she said. This time her voice was firm. She looked like she wouldn't back down even from Zuller on this point. "I know that Shimer himself was a Soldier, but the Soldiers of Shimer exist only to kill, and healers revere all life."

"Even Mazoku?" Xelloss asked. He sounded amused.

"In my grandmother's temple we were taught that the Mother Of Us All gave life to each being from Her wisdom and power, and all beings have a place in this world."

"My, my," Xelloss said more softly. The humor had left his voice. He inclined his head toward her; it looked to Zelgadis like a gesture of respect. "I may have to visit this temple of your grandmother's someday."

A wistful expression crossed Kemara's face, but then she remembered her duties and pulled herself together.

"I'm sorry. I've held you up here longer than I should have. If you'll please remove your cloaks and bags, all that you carry, and leave them here..."

Zelgadis raised his eyebrows, wondering what effect it would have on the Mazoku to leave his belongings behind since they were all a part of him, but aside from the reluctance to part with his staff, Xelloss seemed unconcerned. Kemara led them between hanging banners that rippled when they passed by, to an alcove near the door to the Great Hall. Zelgadis remembered his urge to run Zuller through with his sword and decided it was just as well that he leave it here, but Xelloss hesitated before laying his staff reverently in the deep wooden chest in the alcove. Kemara didn't seem to want to touch either item.

After that, they removed their boots, and Zelgadis drew off his tunic and handed it to her to place in the chest as well. It was difficult to say which of them blushed more fiercely, but Xelloss seemed perfectly at ease standing there in nothing but his trousers. Zelgadis' throat felt dry; he never liked exposing so much of his body to strangers, but that was the least of his worries at the moment. He tried very hard not to think about running his hands over all of Xelloss' bare skin, or how Xelloss looked just as good in the lighted hall as he had felt in the dark. Kemara ducked her head and tried not to stare at either of them.

Zelgadis forced himself to remember what they were here for. They stepped out of the alcove and back into the corridor between the rippling banners, and Kemara led them to the silver doors. With the most genuine smile Zelgadis had seen on anyone since coming to the Valley of Shimeria, she flung upon the doors and stood aside for them to enter.

He paused on the threshold with Xelloss at his shoulder. Ahead, amid dazzling lights and shadows, Zuller stood waiting in his silvery robes. His pale blue eyes gleamed as he smiled to welcome them. Beside him, three Deputy Shrine Keepers beamed at them and bowed. They looked like any ordinary temple priests to Zelgadis, except for the blank glare of their smiles.

Kemara stepped into the room beside them eagerly, but with a benevolent smile, Zuller waved her back. He inclined his head respectfully, thanking her without words for performing her duty, but clearly he expected her to leave now that it was done.

Kemara bit her lip again with the nearest thing to a scowl Zelgadis had seen on a Follower of Shimer. Zelgadis frowned as well. His irritation with Zuller flared, but at a warning glance from Xelloss he held it at bay. It probably wouldn't be wise to challenge Zuller now, before they'd been admitted to the heart of the Shrine.

Kemara took a deep breath and gathered her dignity around her once again. She gave them one more of her brilliant, natural smiles, then turned and left the Hall. The great door closed behind her.

Another corridor of silken hangings opened before them, longer and wider than the last. The banners here were all silver and blue, row after row of them throughout the wide hall, rippling like columns of water. They caught the rainbow light from crystal skylights in the ceiling far above.

Pillars of stone, deep blue flecked with veins of gold, rose at intervals along the corridor between the banners. What Zelgadis could see of the walls beyond the silk banners was the same sparkling blue stone. The floor was polished like glass here as well, but it was an even deeper blue that seemed to have more lights shimmering in its depths. He felt like they were walking on water between silver waterfalls as they started across the floor.

Halfway across this shimmering room, Zuller held out his arms to them.

"Welcome at last, Zelgadis-sama! And Xelloss-sama! I was greatly relieved when Kemara sent word that you had both arrived. We would have been sorry indeed if we failed to serve you here in the Valley of Shimeria!"

"We're sorry to have kept you waiting," Zelgadis said with a smile of his own.

He hooked his arm around Xelloss', and the trickster priest smiled broadly but bowed his head as if he was abashed at this public show of affection. Zelgadis nearly laughed aloud: There was the proof that Xelloss could definitely blush on demand. Faced with the stares of the Keepers, he almost managed to ignore the heat of Xelloss' skin against his.

The Keepers' eyebrows rose all at once, but their smiles only grew broader.

"Ah, I see!" Zuller said. "Then you have come to receive the blessing of Shimer together as a couple, as well?"

"What better place to begin our new lives than here at the blessed Shrine?" Xelloss said happily.

They paused near the far end of the hall where Zuller and the other Keepers stood waiting between the stone pillars.

"Allow me to introduce you to my assistants," Zuller said with a formal bow.

He introduced the tall man to his right as Deputy Shrine Keeper Neldo. A tall man with graying hair and a square jaw, Neldo gave a quick bow when Zuller introduced him. On Zuller's left stood Deputy Shrine Keeper Daria, a middle-aged woman who bowed to them stiffly in spite of her benign smile. The third man was shorter than the rest, with a round face to match his round body. Deputy Shrine Keeper Marcus looked as timid as a mouse and his hands fluttered nervously as he was introduced to them.

After they had all bowed politely to each other several times, Zuller stood back and raised his hands in a gesture of blessing.

"I welcome you, my friends! It is time now to begin your transformation!"

Zuller stepped back toward a set of gilded doors at the far end of the Great Hall. The Deputy Keepers moved to either side, ready to escort them as well. Zelgadis' heart pounded as he tried to imagine what lay beyond those doors. He and Xelloss stepped forward together arm in arm, Xelloss with his head bowed as if he was deep in some spiritual meditation.

They passed slowly between the silken banners and the columns of stone, their movements making the banners rustle softly as if a wind blew through them. Shadows and lights moved among the silk columns, forms emerged from behind them, and suddenly Zelgadis realized they were surrounded by row after row of grinning Soldiers of Shimer.

Before he could take another step a dozen Soldiers were pulling him away from Xelloss. He shouted and scrambled to hold on to Xelloss' arm, but the Soldiers' strength surprised him yet again and he lost his grip. Xelloss let himself be yanked away, but when Zelgadis saw his face, he only looked like a mild-mannered priest who was too startled to resist.

In seconds they stood surrounded on all sides with the heavy hands of at least a dozen Soldiers on each of them, and many swords and spears raised and pointing at them. More of the Soldiers stood waiting throughout the room, with themselves and the Keepers at the center of a wide circle of them. There was a sword at Zel's throat and the point of a spear aimed at his heart, and ten other soldiers held his arms at his sides. Across the aisle between the pillars, they held Xelloss in the same way.

Dread filled Zelgadis' heart. There were too many of them, some still hidden behind the pillars of silk and stone. If he set off a magical attack in close quarters like this, it would be difficult to be sure of getting all of them without destroying himself and possibly Xelloss as well. Although half of their weapons gleamed with the familiar silver blades, the rest seemed to hold various enchantments and he had no way of telling what they could do. He didn't even know what help Xelloss could be in such a fight, and whatever he did here, they would still have to get to the Shrine somehow.

Zuller had stopped and turned to face them within a few feet of the doors, which Zelgadis now realized they might never pass through. He could only hope the Keepers didn't know for certain what Xelloss was yet. The trickster priest stood there in the Soldiers' grip looking completely confused, and whatever worry he showed appeared to be for Zelgadis, not himself. The dozen different blades held on him all gleamed with different enchantments, including a sword with the mercurial sheen of Shimer's Curse - but each of the same kind of weapon was aimed at Zelgadis as well. If the Keepers didn't yet know what they were really dealing with, perhaps they had a chance...

"What is this!" he snarled at the Chief Shrine Keeper, not bothering to hide his anger any longer. "Is this how you greet all travelers who seek healing at your precious Shrine?"

"I must apologize, Zelgadis-sama," Zuller said, shaking his head regretfully but not losing a bit of his smile. "Please be patient with us. You will understand in a moment why we must do this."

He came over to stand in front of Zelgadis, turning his back on Xelloss. Daria and Marcus joined him, studying Zelgadis curiously as if they'd never seen a rock-golem-chimera before--which, in fact, they probably hadn't. The soldier-like Keeper, Neldo, stayed near Xelloss, but they all seemed to be ignoring him for the moment.

"Zuller, what is this about?" Zelgadis snapped, tugging on his captors' grip. "Do you intend to kill me here in the hidden sanctuary of your Shrine so that you can claim I was cured without having to show the proof? Shimer's power is all a lie, just as I thought!"

"Oh, my, no!" Zuller said quickly. The Deputy Keepers shook their heads in dismay and smiled reassuringly. "I realize your skepticism is the product of many disappointments in the past, but once again I assure you that you will soon be restored to your true human form. After that, you will be free to go wherever you wish to go, and to tell everyone or no one of what took place here at the Shrine of Shimer."

Zuller took a step closer and laid his hand on Zel's arm. Zelgadis glared at him but the Chief Shrine Keeper didn't flinch.

"However," Zuller went on calmly, "You must enter the Shrine alone, Zelgadis-san. I'm afraid Xelloss-san cannot go with you. I am truly, truly sorry that this is so."

His condescending smile was unbearable. Zelgadis struggled; he knew he couldn't quite break free of the soldiers holding him, at least not without finding out if their blades could pierce his stone skin, but he managed to shake off Zuller's touch on his arm.

"I beg your pardon, Chief Shrine Keeper-sama," Xelloss said in his mildest voice. "If my presence here is not welcome, you should have said so sooner! I'll leave immediately if that will allow Zel-san to go along and be cured!"

Zuller's eyes flicked toward Xelloss for a second, but he remained facing Zelgadis.

"This creature is not your friend, Zelgadis-san," he said quietly. "Not unless it has been your habit to befriend demons."

Zelgadis' heart sank. He glared at Zuller, but Xelloss made a sound of startled innocence. Zelgadis took his cue from that. Somehow, he thought desperately, they might still be able to bluff their way out of this.

"What are you talking about?" he exclaimed, trying not to reveal his alarm. "The only demon in this room is within me. You said it yourself; that demon inside me is part of the curse I seek to break through the Power of Shimer."

"If this is the case, if your demon part is all that we sense here, there is an easy test to prove it," Zuller said. "Forgive me, Zelgadis..."

Deputy Keeper Marcus stepped up beside Zuller and held up a knife. The blade glittered as if chips of diamond were embedded in its cutting edge. There was more to it than that, though, Zelgadis noticed. A strong spell was laid on it as well.

The soldiers tightened their grip on his arms. He stiffened and struggled instinctively, while Xelloss made a sound of concern from behind Zuller. With an absurdly apologetic look on his face, meek little Marcus slashed the blade across Zel's arm where Zuller's hand had just been.

Zelgadis gasped; there was a stinging pain, and a line of bright red appeared on his arm. Even with Marcus' weak strike the knife had cut into him as if his flesh was merely human. While he stared at the blood oozing onto his stone skin, Zuller nodded thoughtfully. Marcus stepped back quickly, looking distressed but not surprised.

"Yes," Zuller said with a benevolent smile. "We know there is Brow Demon in you, grafted to your soul by evil magic, just as your body was combined with that of a rock golem. This blade is designed to kill the pure rock golems that Mazoku and their misguided human allies sometimes use."

Zuller stepped back and turned to Daria at his side. Smiling sweetly, she held out a knife of similar design, but this one had a dark blade with a bright silver edge.

"This weapon would pierce your demon soul, but that would cause you more pain than I wish to subject you to, Zelgadis-san. But a Brow Demon is not a Mazoku, as I'm sure you know. They are a different kind of magical being entirely. And your core is human. "

Zuller reached out to his side and a Soldier standing nearby handed him a knife with the familiar quicksilver blade. Before Zelgadis could react, Zuller lunged forward and stabbed it against his chest. He hissed in surprise and heard Xelloss' worried cry, but the blade simply bounced off of him without leaving a mark.

"You see," Zuller said, stepping back again. "You are not one of the evil race."

He held the blade up to the light and looked at it carefully, checking to see if Zel's stone skin had even blunted it. Only then did Zelgadis notice the band around his forearm that had been hidden under his sleeve. The plain white band was set with a single stone like clear glass filled with swirling black ink. Xelloss seemed to have noticed it as well; over Zuller's shoulder, Zelgadis saw something flicker across his face. He had a terrible feeling he knew what that inky blackness signified.

Zuller spun around and thrust the tip of the silvery blade at Xelloss' throat.

"This one, however, is nothing but a lie," he said.

Xelloss froze. Zelgadis hardly dared to breathe as Zuller forced Xelloss' head up with the silvery blade under his chin. The Mazoku's eyes were clenched shut and he grimaced fearfully, but still, it seemed to Zelgadis, he only seemed surprised and puzzled that Zuller should threaten him like this. He was not ready to reveal himself to them yet.

"What! You think Xelloss is a demon?" Zelgadis laughed. "He's only a wandering priest who once studied very old, powerful magic. He used to practice dark magic, so maybe that's what you detect, but I assure you, he is no demon! Please, don't hurt him! His skin isn't made of stone..."

"He is not merely a demon," Zuller said happily, smiling in Xelloss' face. "He is a Mazoku! Apparently a powerful one, to wear such a convincing human form. He has deceived you well, but now you shall learn the truth!"

"No!" Zelgadis yelled. He struggled frantically while Zuller drew his hand back. Xelloss' face showed alarm although his eyes remained tightly shut, and he tried to pull away from his captors' grip.

To Zelgadis' dismay and Xelloss' apparent astonishment, the Soldiers lifted him off his feet and yanked him back against the stone pillar behind him. Zuller stepped forward and shoved him back against the stone with one hand on his chest, while the other held the knife ready to strike.

"Zuller!" Zelgadis yelled angrily. "Stop this!"

He struggled to get free, but the Soldiers holding him twisted his arms and yanked downward. Another Soldier grabbed the diamond-bladed knife and thrust it under his chin. It bit his throat but he still tried to pull free of them. "Xelloss!"

Xelloss groaned; his limbs shook as he tried in vain to throw the Soldiers off. He was too weak to do it. He seemed to give up suddenly, all the fight draining from him. Zelgadis watched in horror as Shimer's Curse stole the Mazoku's strength. At the last second, as Zuller's hand fell, Xelloss opened his inhuman eyes and stared malevolently at the Chief Shrine Keeper. But that was all he could do.

Zelgadis froze in shock as Zuller plunged the knife into Xelloss' chest. It slipped into his apparently solid flesh as easily as if he was made of mist, but Xelloss let out a gasping cry and jerked in the Soldiers' grip, and then went limp.

"Xelloss!" Zelgadis screamed.

He almost broke free then, dragging his captors with him as he struggled forward, even though he had no idea what he could do. More soldiers joined the others holding him and more blades appeared all around him. He was about to conjure a spell to blast them all, no longer caring if it brought the crystal ceiling down on all of them. Then Zuller stepped back, leaving the hilt of the knife sticking out of Xelloss' chest.

Zelgadis stopped and stared. He wasn't certain if Xelloss was already dead, or what would happen to his human form if he was. A thin trail of black energy drifted out of the invisible wound to dissipate in the air like smoke. But then Xelloss' fingers twitched, and slowly, he lifted his head and opened his lavender eyes. An evil grin spread across his face as he stared, not at Zuller, but at Zelgadis.

"So, you see how it is at last, Zel-chan," he said in a strange, mild voice that trembled a little. He made the intimate name sound like a cruel joke. "It's been my pleasure to deceive you all this time. But to fool your enemies, you must first be able to fool your friends."

His eyes darted to Zuller briefly but then focused on Zelgadis again with a malicious gleam. A chilling shiver climbed Zel's spine under the glare of those eyes and confusion stopped him from speaking. Why would Xelloss still bother to lie to them like this? Or had he given up completely, so there was no more reason to lie at all?

"You see the monster's true nature at last," Zuller said with satisfaction. He turned and took a silver-tipped spear from a Soldier standing nearby. "These blades blessed with the Power of Shimer only pierce the bodies of Mazoku, whether they appear human or in their true form. Having weakened them, we can destroy them with our purified weapons... slowly or swiftly as we choose."

"No... " Zel struggled again. "This can't be! Damn it, Xelloss!"

"Ah! Ignorant, innocent, foolish chimera," Xelloss broke in, laughing. The mockery in his voice stopped Zel in his place. "You can't even admit the truth when it's right in front of you! I'm afraid Chief Shrine Keeper Zuller-sama is right after all. I was never your friend, Zel-chan. You were my tool, nothing more. Your pitiful self-hatred, even your twisted desire for me, all gave me the strength I needed to withstand these fools and get this far, at least, into their sanctuary." He sighed. "I was so looking forward to the moment when you finally realized it, although I must say, I thought it would be under slightly different circumstances than this. I thought it would be at the moment I destroyed this place and once again deprived you of that normal life you so pitifully desire."

Zelgadis gaped at him, trembling as that malevolent voice continued. It had to be another deception, he thought, but he couldn't see any reason for it. Zuller stood nearby, his smile mixed with a grimace of disgust at Xelloss. The Shrine Keeper raised the cursed spear.

Helpless anger swept over Zelgadis. He remembered the moment in Midtown when he'd felt he could gladly kill both of them. Zuller had soothed his anger then, but Xelloss...

He let his rage flare in his heart, fury both at the Shrine Keeper's smug smile and at Xelloss for all his manipulation. It had to be what Xelloss wanted. The amethyst eyes glittered brightly, enough to make Zuller pause before striking.

"Ah, Zel-chan!" Xelloss' voice still taunted, even though it grew weaker by the second and he winced as if in pain. "Your emotions still taste sweet, as useless as they are to me now. All of that pain and longing you hide... It was always so easy to irritate you and feed on your anger, and then I found it was even easier to lure you with this body and feed on your desire. You were even better in bed than I expected! I must admit, you've been a rich feast for me, both your body and your soul."

Leering, he raked his gleaming eyes up and down Zel's body. Zelgadis felt limp with horror. Xelloss grew visibly weaker with every word; the Mazoku couldn't be gaining anything from his emotions now but sadistic pleasure.

All of Zelgadis' doubts returned in a flash that nearly blinded him. He finally remembered that Xelloss was a Mazoku, first and always, just as he always said. He had no human feelings like desire; he only fed off of them. He'd simply found one more perfect way to manipulate his human companion, using Zelgadis' desire and sympathy as well as his anger. Zelgadis had known this at the start, but he'd allowed himself to believe otherwise. He'd been deceived as much by his own foolish longings as he had by the Trickster Priest himself.

Zuller laughed. His eyes were alight with hate and triumph as he aimed the spear at Xelloss. "You have fed far too much on this young man's pain," he said with a grim smile. "It will do you no good here anyway, Mazoku!"

Xelloss' eyes flashed briefly before Zuller drove the spear into him, into his chest where a heart would have been if he were human. The Mazoku gave a strangled, gurgling cry and his face contorted with pain, even though, once again, the spear seemed to simply disappear within him. Zuller pushed hard, and Xelloss gasped again as Zuller twisted the blade deep inside him. More wisps of darkness bled from the wound, barely visible in the bright light of the Hall. Somehow, both of the weapons had pinned Xelloss to the stone. The Soldiers hardly needed to keep their grip on him now.

Even then, after a moment, Xelloss raised his head a little. He fixed Zuller with one opened eye and a twisted grin.

"It's true," he rasped. "The chimera's pain no longer does me any good, but I still enjoy it anyway."

Zelgadis' clenched his fists and cried out. His horror flared into rage, fueled by a pain he could hardly admit to feeling, as if a spear was twisted into his own heart. Even while part of his mind searched for some reason, some cue that he was missing, his heart told him it was pointless. He had been a fool, just as Xelloss had so often told him he was.

Zuller left the shaft of the spear in the hands of Deputy Keeper Neldo, who had been standing near Xelloss. He turned back to face Zelgadis.

"You have seen the truth with your own eyes, now, Zelgadis-san," he said gently with another of his sympathetic smiles. "I'm sorry we had to let this monster continue to deceive you for so long, but it was necessary to lure him here where he would be at his weakest so that we could be sure of killing him."

Still held in place by dozens of Soldiers' hands, Zelgadis glared at him, but now he was only angry at Zuller for showing him something he didn't want to see. He shook his head and laughed bitterly.

"So, you used me as well," he said.

Zuller hung his head. The other Keepers looked pained.

"Yes, Zelgadis-san, I'm afraid we did," Zuller admitted. "I'm truly sorry."

Zelgadis snorted in disgust. He'd thought once that he preferred the Mazoku's obvious manipulation to the Shrine Keeper's insidious spells, but he hadn't realized then how far Xelloss would go to get what he wanted from him, or how gullible he could be. He winced with shame. At least, he thought, Zuller hadn't seduced him.

It hardly mattered now, Zelgadis thought bitterly. Xelloss was dying. He could see with his own eyes how quickly the Mazoku's strength was slipping away. Xelloss still watched him with malicious delight, but he sagged in his captors' grip. His confidence was gone; he'd failed in his mission. Pity mingled with rage in Zelgadis' heart. He tried to be glad of Xelloss' failure, but he couldn't quite do it even now. All he felt was grief.

Xelloss winced. A grimace of pain appeared on his face and quickly disappeared. He dropped his head, hiding his eyes under the curtain of his dark hair, but not before Zelgadis recognized the hunger and longing in those eyes as Zel's twisted emotions hit him. Pinned by the blades, he could draw no strength from them at all, and he couldn't even escape to his natural form. He couldn't even die until Zuller decided to let him.

Suddenly Zelgadis knew what the Mazoku was doing. He couldn't use Zel's emotions anymore; he wasn't even trying to invoke them. He'd given up at last, but he'd made sure Zuller and the others thought he'd deceived Zelgadis completely. All he'd said had disguised the fact that Zelgadis had been helping him willingly all along. Zel's heart twisted within him as he realized Xelloss was trying to set him free.

He stared hard at Xelloss for a few more seconds to convince himself it was true, but the Mazoku didn't move. Zuller took another spear and prodded Xelloss' head up with the tip under his chin. The slitted eyes were cold and dim; they stared through Zuller at nothing.

Zelgadis dropped his head into his hands and groaned. It had to be true. He decided to believe what his heart wanted to believe, even knowing what twisted deception Xelloss was capable of. Zuller and the others had mistaken the real reason for his anguish so far. He had to let them think that they were right.

"You used me, demon," he said. His voice broke with pain. Hiding his face, he let his anguish reveal itself in his words. "From the very start you were only using me. You brought me here and tempted me with the promise of a cure for my condition, just so you could get into the Shrine and destroy this monument to the enemy of your race, didn't you?"

"My purpose is my secret," Xelloss answered, his voice barely above a whisper.

"It doesn't matter now what you meant to do here, Mazoku," Zuller said to Xelloss.

Zelgadis looked up between his fingers. Zuller now held the spear against Xelloss' abdomen, but this time he drove it in slowly. Zelgadis watched with horrified fascination as the blade disappeared inch by inch. Xelloss tried to withstand this in silence but moaned sharply when Zuller finally thrust the spear through him into the pillar.

"You may once have been powerful, Mazoku," Zuller said, "but in the midst of our shrine you are weak, and we can deal with you easily."

Watching Xelloss' face, Zuller took hold of the knife handle that still protruded from his chest and slowly pulled it out, twisting the blade. Xelloss grimaced horribly and twitched, choking on a scream. There was no mark on him where the blade had been.

Zelgadis looked away, clenching his eyes shut. He hoped they thought his horror only came from seeing this evidence of Xelloss' inhuman form.

"You were powerful once, indeed," Zuller said softly. He seemed surprised that Xelloss had lasted this long and could still lift his head at all. "But you will die soon, even so."

The murmur ran through the room and echoed off the blue stone walls. "Die, Mazoku."

Nodding approvingly, Zuller turned away from Xelloss to gesture to his two Deputy Shrine Keepers. Zelgadis hadn't even noticed he'd been released by the Soldiers holding him until Marcus took his arm.

"Zelgadis-san," he said in a gentle voice. His soft, kindly face peered up into Zel's. "There is no need for you to remain here now that the Mazoku has been subdued. If you wish, I will accompany you to the Shrine now, where you can be cured of this curse and freed of this demon's hold on your soul."

Xelloss opened his pale lavender eyes and looked over Zuller's shoulder to focus on Zelgadis. He laughed softly.

"Oh, yes," he said with a soft, bitter voice. "Go, Zel-chan, and seek your foolish cure. But if I had my way, you would remain a chimera forever."

Zuller's smile never shifted. Without even looking he spun around and plunged the knife into Xelloss again. This time the Mazoku couldn't hold back his scream.

Zelgadis turned his face away and covered it with his hand again, shuddering. Marco watched him sympathetically, misunderstanding the reason for his distress.

"Horrible things, aren't they?" he said, shaking his head with a grimace. "You'd almost think it actually felt real pain."

Zelgadis clenched his eyes shut, trying to still his rage. Once again he considered attacking them with a spell. It would have to be all or nothing. Once he revealed himself as Xelloss' ally, he wouldn't get a second chance against their golem-killing weapons. Even if his attack worked, it might not do Xelloss any good. There was only one way he could think of to save Xelloss, if it wasn't too late already.

The Deputy Keeper tugged on his arm gently. "Zelgadis-san?"

He turned and gave Xelloss one last, hard look, even though he could hardly bear to see him like this. He didn't know if Xelloss could even feel his desperate anger, but if he could, he hoped the Mazoku knew it was all for the fanatical Followers of Shimer.

"I won't fail, monster," he said flatly.

There was no way to tell if Xelloss had even heard the words. His eyes were fading, all the light and color leaving them. Zelgadis turned away again and looked past the Soldiers and the fluttering banners to the carved, gilt doors.

"Bring me to the Shrine of Shimer," he said. "Let me be purified."

to be continued.

Next: Zelgadis finally arrives at the Shrine, and the fate of Xelloss is decided!


	12. Chapter 12

Title: Poison (chapter 12 of 13)

Author: Tsutsuji

Date written: June-August 2005

Fandom: Slayers

Rating: R for suggestiveness and violence

Pairings: Zelgadis/Xelloss

Type: yaoi/slash, adventure

Warnings: hurt/comfort, angst, char-torture

Disclaimer: I do not own the copyright to these characters and I'm making no profit from this fic and intend no copyright infringement.

Summary: Zelgadis reaches the Shrine and makes a surprising discovery, and a decision...

Notes: Thanks so much for the reviews and encouragement. This chapter gets long and dark, and even more painful than the previous chapter... just so you know.

---

Poison, chapter 12

---

Zelgadis stumbled through the guilt doors from the Great Hall into darkness lit only by a single, fluttering torch. Beside him, Deputy Shrine Keeper Marcus took a second torch from the wall and lit it from the first, then stepped in front of Zelgadis to lead the way. Two Soldiers of Shimer followed them through the doors with their plain steel swords sheathed.

Even with his enhanced senses, the torchlight seemed dim after the blaze and glitter of the Great Hall. It took Zel a minute to realize they were in a natural cave that wound away out of sight between rough stone walls. He remembered that the Hall was built into the hillside, and realized that the shrine must be underground. The Great Hall was just an entryway.

Another choked-off scream followed them into the darkness. Zelgadis shuddered. Without conscious thought, power gathered in his fingertips; he could blow them all away with one quick spell. He paused, and Marcus turned back to check on him. His kindly face creased with concern when he saw Zelgadis' pained expression.

"I can imagine what a shock this must be for you, Zelgadis-san," he said, shaking his head sympathetically. "It must be horrible to realize what kind of creature you've been traveling with all this time. We were so concerned for you! Chief Shrine Keeper Zuller-sama hoped that it would soothe your soul to enter the Shrine as soon as you discovered the truth."

Zelgadis clenched his fists, grasping the power that he'd conjured like hot coals.

"Yes, I'm sure it will do that," he said. His voice sounded strained in his own ears. "Let us hurry to the Shrine."

"Of course," the Keeper said quickly, anxious to please. "Right this way! You'll soon be fully human again, Zelgadis-san!"

Zelgadis started forward with the Keeper in front, carrying the torch, and the two Soldiers some distance behind. Another gasping moan was cut off when the doors swung shut behind them.

It was silent then, except for their footsteps and the flutter of the torches, but he thought he also heard the faint drip of water on stone. The walls glittered in the torchlight, damp in places but veined with gems in others. The passage wound among pillars of stone that rose up from the floor or spiked down from above, and smaller caves branched off into utter darkness on either side.

Human again... the Keeper's words echoed in his mind with a hollow sound. His hope was numb, but his rage settled like a banked fire. He still had no idea what the Shrine would be when he got there, so he had no clear idea what he would have to do. Hearing the footsteps behind him, he wondered if they were suspicious of him already.

"Why are there Soldiers coming with us?" he wondered aloud.

"Oh, simply ceremonial," Marcus shrugged. "It used to be quite a bit more elaborate than this whenever someone came to the shrine, with an honor guard and a ceremony that lasted for some time. Of course, before the Hall was built and the Relics were made, people just poured in and out all the time without any proper dignity at all..."

He rambled on about the history of the Great Hall and its past glories. Apparently he thought it would do Zelgadis good to get his mind off what he'd just witnessed, but he soon stopped listening. Xelloss' screams still rang in his ears, and all he could see was the lavender eyes that had gleamed so hotly in the dark the night before growing pale and colorless.

"...A true Follower of Shimer!" the Deputy Shrine Keeper had worked himself up to crow the words aloud, and then he cringed nervously when they echoed off the walls. He regained his composure and turned to glance back at Zelgadis.

"If you wish, you might even consider training as a Shrine Keeper yourself. I'm sure Zuller-sama would approve of it. Of course, after what you've been through, you might well wish to become a Soldier of Shimer. I certainly wouldn't blame you."

Zelgadis stared at the Deputy Keeper's back; his lip curled in a snarl that the timid Marcus would have trembled to see. The thought of himself as one of those mindless, grinning soldiers made him want to retch. But then, in the middle of his horror, another thought came to him. He stopped so suddenly the Soldiers nearly ran into him.

"Could I do that?" he said eagerly. "Could I become a Soldier of Shimer here, today?"

The Keeper turned to him with a puzzled look.

"Today? Now?" Marcus turned to give him a puzzled look.

Zelgadis smiled, a gleaming, eager smile. "Today. After I'm human again, of course. Would I be able to wield one of those blessed weapons right away?"

Marcus' eyes grew wide and his smile grew wider. "Oh, I see! You want to have your revenge on that creature, don't you?"

"What better way to begin my new, human life in the Great Cause of Shimer?" Zelgadis said with a grin that rivaled those of the Soldiers.

Marcus nodded, rubbing his hands together thoughtfully. "Well, I can't appoint you as a Soldier without Zuller-sama's permission, but I'm sure that can be arranged."

Zelgadis frowned. "I only hope Zuller-sama doesn't kill the creature before I have the chance to do it," he said anxiously.

"Oh, of course!" Marcus gestured to one of the grinning Soldiers. "Run back quickly and tell the Chief Shrine Keeper of Zelgadis-san's request. If he agrees, bring a weapon back with you, and I'll do the dedication at the Shrine as soon as he's cured!"

The Soldier gave Zelgadis a comrade's grin and a thumbs-up before dashing back up the corridor. Zelgadis gritted his teeth in his false smile so hard that his jaw ached.

"Let's hurry on, then!" the Keeper said with an excited smile.

Zelgadis quickened his steps. He had no way of knowing if the request would reach Zuller in time, or if he would agree to it, but it was the best he think of to do to try to keep Xelloss alive until he figured out what he had to do.

---

"You were doomed as soon as you set foot in the Valley of Shimeria, Mazoku!" Zuller said cheerfully. "And you sealed your fate when you entered the Hall of the Shrine. You know that now, don't you?"

Xelloss peered at the Chief Shrine Keeper through a haze of pain and weariness. Zuller's pale eyes gleamed happily as he watched the play of light on the blade of a sword he held. The question didn't really seem to require an answer, so Xelloss said nothing.

However, it was truer than Zuller realized. He'd been dead the moment he was wounded back at Demonend. Knowing the reason only proved that beyond doubt. No matter what Zelgadis or Lina Inverse herself might say, the fact that Shimer had already defeated him was painfully obvious.

Zuller's Deputy Shrine Keepers stood behind Zuller, beaming with admiration at their leader. Xelloss had shown them his most demonic glare but it didn't make as much of an impression as he would have liked. It was no wonder, really, considering his position. No human hands held him in place against the pillar now; shimmering spikes pinned his arms and legs to this stone pillar that somehow bound him to the physical plane.

He hadn't expected that final trick of the Shimer's, the anchor formed by this gold-flecked stone and the cursed blades. That trap had been sprung just when he was ready to release an attack far greater than any mere flock of humans should deserve. He wondered if any other Mazoku had been captured here in this hall like a fly on paper, or like a butterfly with black wings pinned to a board soaked with poison.

After a while Xelloss realized that his silence seemed to please Zuller, so he decided it was worth the effort to make some remark after all.

"If you knew about me all along, why didn't you bring out your illustrious Soldiers the moment you saw me, Zuller-sama?" he asked, fighting to keep the weariness out of his voice. "I would think a public execution would have suited you better than this -- or were you concerned about the bad publicity if word got out that Mazoku were in the neighborhood?"

"Oh, not really," Zuller said with a shrug. "But it wasn't worth the risk of innocent lives. I could see you still had much of your power then, but I knew that would change as you moved deeper into the valley. As for publicity, rest assured that the tale of your defeat right here at the Shrine of Shimer will be known by everyone in this valley and beyond before many more days have passed."

"Ah," Xelloss said softly. "And poor Zelgadis-san thought he was the object of your publicity campaign. Is it possible, then, that you only insisted he come to the Shrine in order to lure me here as well? Is the power of Shimer a fraud as he believed, after all?"

"In your position, you can still doubt the Power of Shimer?" Zuller laughed. Then his lip curled in disgust. "Poor Zelgadis-san!" he echoed.

He lifted the sword, still watching its strange, liquid gleam as he placed the blade against Xelloss' cheek. "Poor Zelgadis-san, you say? You make me regret that I didn't kill you the moment I saw you, 'priest.' I would have, no matter the risk, if I'd known you would do more than feed on his hopes and doubts. Unfortunately, I didn't realize the depths of your depravity, demon. It never occurred to us until you walked in this place together that you would go so far as to seduce him."

He sliced Xelloss' face with a flick of his wrist, and then drew back to plunge the sword into Xelloss' groin.

The scream escaped before he could stop it. He managed to open his eyes a few seconds later, still gasping, to find Zuller smiling proudly right in his face. The Shrine Keeper narrowed his eyes and studied him.

"You are much more powerful than I expected. More than any other Mazoku I've yet faced and killed. Just how high is your rank among your kind, Xelloss? Who is your master?"

Even through his pain, Xelloss managed to grin at him. This was one of the odd advantages to being an undercover agent among humans as he was. His name was famous among both Dragons and Mazoku, but nearly unknown among mortals, even sorcerers. His own kind and his greatest enemies knew whom he served, but he would not dishonor Zelas-sama's name by speaking it in the presence of the Followers of Shimer.

He pushed past the pain to keep his tone as polite as possible. "I am sorry, Shrine Keeper-sama...but that is a secret."

With a benign smile Zuller twisted the blade in his gut. Thinking of his Mistress, Xelloss managed to stare him in the eye without wincing, even though his spirit screamed with despair that he had failed her.

After a few seconds, Zuller stepped back and withdrew the sword slowly. The insane gleam in his eyes had only grown brighter. He stood back between his admiring Deputies. The straight-laced, bureacratic Daria and the soft, old general Neldo each wore the same glaring smile, and each held a silver-tipped spear ready to strike.

Xelloss regarded them all with what malevolent energy he had left. It wasn't much. His reserves were nearly gone, despite the face of strength he tried to show to them. At least with Zelgadis out of the room, he no longer had to endure the sweet, poisonous potion of dark emotions that bled his power from him so quickly. It had taken more effort than he'd expected to drive Zelgadis away. The foolish mortal should have expected a Mazoku to deceive him by now, after all. But even without that drain on his power, he only remained in this shell of a body now through the magic of Shimer's curse.

The Deputy Shrine Keepers placed the tips of their spears at his breast, while Zuller laid the point of the sword at the base of his throat.

"I'm glad you're so powerful, monster," Zuller said conversationally. His assistants nodded in agreement. "It gives us more time to enjoy watching you die."

Xelloss leered at him. "You would have made a good Mazoku, Zuller," he said.

With one movement, the three Shrine Keepers drew back their blades to strike all at once. Concentrating all his will on keeping his weakness hidden, Xelloss didn't comprehend the interruption that held them back until he heard the painfully joyful voice of a Soldier of Shimer.

"He has requested the honor of joining us as soon as possible, Chief Shrine Keeper-sama," the Soldier said excitedly. "He asks to be given one of our demon-killing weapons as soon as he is human again, so that he can kill this thing with his own hand."

"Excellent!" Zuller crowed. The Deputies turned to each other and nodded gleefully, and a murmur of approval ran through the hall, mingled with the familiar mantra of the Soldiers.

Zuller turned back to Xelloss. His smile was as blindingly painful as the cursed blades that pierced what was left of his spirit.

"What a fitting end to your evil! You see, Mazoku, it will be Zelgadis-san himself who will make your defeat known throughout the land!"

Somehow, Xelloss managed to keep the leering grin on his face even as Zuller's words sank in. It was indeed fitting, he supposed. His ploy to deceive them all had worked a little too well. Zuller's face fell when he saw Xelloss' apparent lack of reaction to this news.

"Of course, it doesn't really matter to you who kills you, does it?" he said with a shake of his head. "A shame, really, that you won't feel more of the anguish you have undoubtedly brought to thousands of humans. A shame that you won't feel the remorse that a human soul might feel in having a lover he'd deceived turn and take his life."

He pushed Xelloss' chin up with the tip of his blade, keeping them eye-to-eye. "After all," he continued, "it's not as if you actually cared for 'poor Zelgadis-san,' is it?"

Xelloss stared into Zuller's eyes and curled his lip in a grin. "Of course not," he said in his mildest, deadliest voice.

With a snort of disgust, Zuller drew his sword back to strike. Xelloss dropped his head to hide his eyes. He wasn't quite sure, but he thought that might have been the biggest lie he'd ever told.

---

Marcus' torch fluttered in a gust of cool air. He stopped and stood aside, and the remaining Soldier stepped to the other side. Zelgadis found that they were standing before a low arch in the passage. The air was cool and damp, and the trickling sound of water echoed from all directions. Ahead through the arch the light was brighter, eye-dazzling after the darkness of the cave.

Marcus and the Soldier bowed their heads with their inevitable smiles. Zelgadis ducked under the low arch and stepped through into a blaze of dancing blue-green light.

"Welcome at last, Zelgadis-san, to the Shrine of Shimer!" Marcus said. His hushed voice echoed clearly off the stone walls of the chamber, and off the still surface of the pool in its depths.

Stone steps, rough and wide, spread out from the narrow entryway to create a natural shelf around the little lake. On the far side of it water slid down over a smooth, gleaming wall, and shafts of green light cut down through the air from someplace far above. All around the chamber, veins of gold and crystal glinted in the walls. The pool was as still as glass and nearly as clear. Zelgadis could see the shelf-like steps of dark rock descending toward the center of it.

"This is the cure for all ills?" he asked, hoping he sounded suitably awed. In fact he was trying not to laugh out loud. He should have guessed it would be this simple. He could just imagine what Lina Inverse would have to say about such an obvious cliché as an enchanted pool! Shimer might have been clever about weaving spells together, but he was certainly not creative.

"The spring that was blessed by Shimer, into which he also placed the Curse of Power over the Mazoku, as well as much of his healing power," Marcus continued in the same hushed tone of respect. "Here, Humanity prevails and all other magic fails. That is how your curse shall be broken, and you will be human again. Then you will be able to become a Soldier of Shimer!"

"All other magic fails?"

"The White and the Dark, the magic of the demons and the gods, will both cease to affect you once you've entered the spring. You will be blessed only with the magical power of Shimer, which will enable you to resist all Mazoku. You will be made fully human, and as a human, you will share in the joy of serving the Great Cause of Shimer," the keeper said with a final flourish.

The heartfelt speech coming from the timid Marcus sounded as unnatural as the ghastly grins worn by the Soldiers.

"The Great Cause of Humanity," Zelgadis said softly.

He sensed the power in the spring reaching out to him, as if tendrils of cold steam were rising from the water to surround him. He felt them seeking for a way inside him, trying to penetrate his skin to find his soul. The power whispered to him, calling him to enter the water and join with it. It was like the magic in the Relics, only stronger and more refined.

He stooped at the water's edge, bowing his head as if in reverence. He was aware of the Keeper standing a few feet away, and of the Soldier standing behind him near the entrance to the chamber. They waited silently without giving him any instruction. He could only guess that he was expected to enter the pool itself in a baptism of magic.

He reached out tentative fingers to touch the water. The cold of it shot up his arm and through his body. This was where all the power came from. There was strong healing magic in it, but also power that bent the will of anyone who touched it to Shimer's cause, and power of joy and despair that was killing Mazoku. The water was imbued with it, but he sensed that the source and the seal of power were far beneath the pool itself, in a deep spring that welled up through the rocks.

It _could_ cure him. It was beginning already, prodding thin fingers between the three parts of his being, and drawing off the spirit energy of the demon side. He was shocked to realize how much that part of him had been subdued already. He hadn't even noticed that his magical capacity had shrunk by nearly a third in the time he'd been in the Valley. He narrowed his eyes, concentrating on it until he could sense the slow, steady drain on his power. Even though it was of a different nature, his magical energy was being sealed away just as Xelloss' had been.

If he immersed himself in the water, Shimer's pure power would draw all of his demon spirit out of him in seconds. Once that was gone, that same power would be able to dissolve his golem body as well. He would be Human, just an ordinary man with no special powers at all, ready to live an ordinary life. Shimer's magic could give him all that he'd wanted for so long.

But if he let it take away his rock body and his demon magic, there would be no one left who could destroy the Shrine.

As he leaned over the pool to study it, Zelgadis saw his own reflection in the mirror-like surface: wire hair glinting like the veins of ore in the cave walls, skin like stone, face and body disfigured with chips of rock, and the blue, crystalline glitter of his own eyes. A body only a monster could desire, he thought with a grim smile.

He bowed his head and called power from his spirit and from the earth into his fingertips. He told himself it was to save the Dragon Race and to free Shimer's Followers from their mindless fanaticism, but he heard Xelloss' parting words in his mind. The face reflected in the pool wore a twisted smile. Against all logic, he chose to honor what might have been Xelloss' dying wish that he remain a chimera.

Praying that the others standing behind him wouldn't notice, he let the power build, entwining through his three-part nature. It would take a unique spell more powerful than any he had ever cast to destroy the source of Shimer's power. He thought of Lina and her ability to invent new spells, and he also thought of Shimer's peculiar talent of weaving spells together. He wove his own magic into a new form, combining Earth and Spirit and Fire and Water into a tight beam, an arrow that could pass through rock and pierce a magical barrier and then explode...

He sensed movement behind him just as he silently breathed the final words of his spell and touched stone under water. There was a shout and glint of light behind him. In the pool he saw a reflection like a sliver of the new moon above his head -- a silver sword blade flashed behind him. He ignored it and released the power he'd gathered. It burst from his fingertips into the water and through the stone beneath it.

Zelgadis felt the shockwave as it plunged deep into the earth. For a second, he sensed the black, icy depth that was the source of the spring. He thrust his spell-spear into it and pierced the heart of Shimer's power, and then let it explode. He felt the magic shatter.

The fragments of Shimer's broken power came screaming back at him, tearing through the astral plane into his spirit. Pierced in a thousand places by their dying energy and with his senses still focused on his spell, he hardly felt the blade strike his back. The sword couldn't cut into his stone flesh, but the force of the blow knocked him forward. He only realized he'd been struck when he hit the water.

Shards of ice pierced him like knives. Shimer's power was concentrated within the pool, and as it crumbled, it screamed in his ears and engulfed his senses. He flailed in the water, trying to bring himself back into his body and out of the astral realm that power had pulled him into. A second later he broke the surface of the water and gasped with the shock of being himself again, back in his chimera body.

Before he could catch his breath, something hit him from the side. One of the Soldiers had tackled him and now was pulling him up by the arm, while another grabbed him around the throat. The one on his arm swung his sword with his free hand. The plain steel blade clanged against the rocks on Zel's chest.

Zelgadis roared and shook himself free of them to stand up in the middle of the pool. Amid the shouts and the flash of weapons he realized the whole chamber was shaking. Wisps of steam rose from the surface of the water, which was rapidly being heated to boiling hot by the fire and molten earth he'd released into the spring. The Soldiers yelled with surprise when it started to scald them.

The stone steps cracked as he scrambled up them. Water rushed around his feet, drawn into the fissures opening in the rock only to boil up from the depths again. The rocks themselves had begun to glow a dull red and the chamber was filling up with steam.

To his dismay, he realized that the destruction of the source of power had not released the Soldiers from their fanaticism. They still smiled their insane smiles as they struggled toward him with their weapons held in steady hands even though the scalding water blistered their skin. It was just as Xelloss had feared, he thought with a sinking heart. Breaking Shimer's power didn't reverse the effect of the Curse after all.

But destroying the Shrine would prevent more weapons and relics from being touched with Shimer's curse and keep more humans from being "cured" into the ranks of the Followers. At least he'd accomplished that much, he told himself as he struggled with the Soldiers. The stone floor cracked under their feet, but their immense strength didn't give way.

His magical capacity was drained from casting the spell. He'd poured all of his power into it to make sure the spring was utterly destroyed. He was sure he'd broken the Seal, but even so the stolen part of his magical power was returning very slowly. He had nothing left to cast even a shield around himself, and he had no sword. But he still had his stone skin, his supernatural speed and his demonic strength to fight them with, and he still had his anger.

He tossed the man with the ordinary sword across the pool with a grunt. The Soldier hit the gleaming wall hard and fell in a limp heap at the edge of the pool, his sword clattering away into one of the widening fissures in the rock.

He found himself face to face with the Soldier who had run back to the Great Hall. The blade of the sword in his hand still shimmered like moonlight on water. Zelgadis realized it was the sword he was to have been given so he could kill Xelloss. Snarling, he grabbed the arm of the Soldier and felt his wrist snap, then yanked the cursed weapon from his hand.

The soldier screamed, holding his broken wrist to his chest and dancing on the red-hot stones. His face was contorted with hatred.

"Die, demon!" he screeched. His feet slipped out from under him. He fell with his face in the bubbling water and didn't move again.

Zel hardly heard his last scream. The shimmering blade had suddenly vanished like a whiff of steam. Zel stared at the hilt in his hand.

"It worked," he sighed, limp with relief. "Shimer's Curse is broken!"

"Not quite!"

Pain exploded through the middle of his body. Too shocked even to scream, he looked down to see the bloody point of a spear jutting from his chest. Its diamond-studded edge glowed with layer upon layer of magic, folded over on itself like the layers of steel and diamond that strengthened the blade. Strong enough to pierce his stone skin, nearly as bright with power as the Sword of Light itself, the blade had barely missed his heart.

The pain increased a hundredfold as the spear was yanked back out of him. This time he screamed until his breath gave out. He was hardly aware of falling backward on to the stones. He squinted up to see Zuller standing over him, grinning, with the dripping spear in his hand.

"Traitor to the human race! You don't deserve to be human, monster!"

Zelgadis tried to raise his hand to the cover wound but he was already too weak; his limbs were numb. He didn't have enough magical energy left to even begin a recovery spell, anyway, and the wound was more than physical. The magic in the blade seared like acid inside him, preventing even his golem body's own natural healing from taking hold. Even so, he smiled up at Zuller, although he tasted blood when he spoke.

"Doesn't matter... Shimer's power... is gone..."

Zuller laughed and shook his head. He leered at his enchanted spear with its golem-piercing blade.

"I feared from the start that your soul was already beyond saving, although I hoped for the best after seeing your righteous anger and your true desire to be human again. But we were prepared in case you did turn out to be beyond our reach. I see that the demon's seduction of you was complete, after all, even more than it realized. The spring you've destroyed could have cured you, chimera, but you chose to die as a demon with your soul enslaved to the race of evil."

Zelgadis stared up at Zuller's watery, pale blue eyes and the insane grin twisting his face.

"You're the slave, Zuller," he said between shallow, gasping breaths. "A mindless slave to the will of Shimer. Even now... I'm far more human than you are."

His breath failed him. He couldn't move; he couldn't do anything at all but stare up as Zuller raised the spear over his heart. Shock darkened his senses. He never saw the blade fall.

----

Xelloss fought to hold on to his existence, straining to keep the last of his power from slipping away before Zelgadis could return and finish him as he'd said he would. It was the least he could do, he supposed, to honor the chimera's request. Better to be finally destroyed by Zelgadis than by the cursed Soldiers of Shimer, at any rate. He probably wouldn't need one of their weapons. One last blast of Zelgadis' hatred would surely drain the last of his life away, but if that was the last thing he ever felt, he could almost die content.

He ignored the taunts and proddings of the Shrine Keepers by trying to imagine what Zelgadis was going to look like as a human, even though he really didn't care to know. Sadly, he began to realize that he might not find out, either. He'd made too convincing a show of strength and the Keepers didn't realize how close to death he really was. Zelgadis might not make it back in time, and he didn't think Zuller really cared one way or the other.

Xelloss raised his head, determined to stare the Chief Shrine Keeper down to the final second, but Zuller was not in sight. Neldo and Daria stood watching him curiously. Most likely they'd never seen a Mazoku die before. Xelloss wondered where Zuller had gone and when he'd left. He found he didn't have the strength to be curious about it, or about the faint flutter of power he felt on the edge of his astral senses.

The blades pinning him to the stone vanished, leaving their shafts to clatter to the floor. He crumpled to the floor as well, gasping in surprise. The pain had stopped, but he was still too weak to stand on his own. When he raised his head he saw the Keepers and the Soldiers staring at the bladeless shafts of their spears and swords in shock.

Xelloss smiled. There was a crack in the seal, and the first tendrils of his returning power bled through it to join with his human form. He was becoming whole again. And knowing that,

He pushed himself up to his knees and faced the Keepers. Their eyes went wide when his staff appeared in his hands, but he waited in vain for true horror to appear on their faces. They glanced at each other uncertainly for a second, and then, as one, they grinned again and raised their useless weapons.

"Die, Mazoku!" they said in unison.

It was absurd, but they were going to rush him as they were. He would have been amused, but there were a lot of them and he didn't have his full strength back yet. He swung his staff as he climbed to his feet and knocked Deputy Shrine Keeper Neldo into the air. Arms and legs flailing, he landed on the heads of a knot of Soldiers who all went down like bowling pins. A kick sent Deputy Shrine Keeper Daria into the pillar across the aisle. He heard bones crack before she flopped onto the floor, her days as a bustling bureaucrat apparently ended.

The ranks of Soldiers closed in on him, muttering their familiar refrain even though they had to know their weapons were useless. Normally he'd enjoy fighting them, but his strength was returning much more slowly than he would have liked through the crack in the seal. He wasn't quite confident enough yet to retreat to his spirit form, fearing that the seal might close again and trap him there to die. The Soldiers weren't helping at all; they were as cheerful as ever and didn't even seem to register pain. It was mildly satisfying to hear the crunching sound when he smashed his staff into one of their faces, but that didn't help his progress out of the Hall. And he was getting damn tired of hearing their endless chant.

When he was halfway across the room, a scream echoed up the through the hallways from somewhere below. The force of it stopped him in mid-swing. Xelloss knew that voice, but he'd never heard it raised in so much pain before.

The aura from that pain was enough to give him the burst of strength he needed, even at this distance. Xelloss drew himself up and raised his staff as he sprinted forward. Shattering glass and splintering rock filled the Great Hall as he blasted through the doors. There was a little panic in them, finally, as the great stone pillars fell and the crystal ceiling came pelting down on them. He didn't stay to enjoy it but sprinted through the dark cavern, satisfied that none of them would follow.

He didn't yet dare risk using the astral plane to move faster. Destroying the Great Hall had drained away nearly all that he had gained and most of his power remained out of reach beyond the Seal. He raced along on foot faster than any mortal could move, and soon found the arched entrance leading down into a smaller chamber. He knew Zelgadis was down there, and suddenly he realized where Zuller must have gone as well.

Xelloss leaped from the bottom of the stone steps and smashed headlong into Zuller. The Chief Shrine Keeper crashed into the nearly empty pool, and the spear he'd held raised over Zelgadis flew from his hand to clatter on the rocks behind him. Xelloss landed on his feet lightly and aimed a kick at the Shrine Keeper's head, but Zuller recovered quickly from his fall and twisted out of the way. He crouched on his hands and knees and leered up at Xelloss with a death's head grin. He didn't seem to notice his own flesh blistering from the searing heat of the rocks.

Xelloss spared a glance at Zelgadis and remembered what he'd said two days before: if the Shrine didn't cure him, he'd destroy it himself. He turned his stare on Zuller.

"So," he said conversationally, "It seems we both deceived the chimera, to our peril! Zelgadis-san was right after all. The Power of Shimer to cure him was all a lie. What a pity for you, Zuller-sama!"

"It was no lie!" Zuller hissed. "Shimer's power could have saved him, but your pitiful pawn chose to deny his humanity and remain a monster. I should have seen that his soul was too tainted by you for him to recover, even within the very heart of Shimer's Shrine. But it's too late for him now, anyway."

Xelloss' eyes widened. He glanced around at the chamber. Even as it faded, the evaporating wisps of Shimer's magic still retained some of their power. They still whispered to him that his own cause was lost and that Humanity would prevail, although it was so faint now that he could easily ignore it. But he knew that, when it had been whole, power that great would have been strong enough to break Rezzo's old curse and restore the chimera to human form. With his shamanist senses, Zelgadis must have known it, but he didn't let it work...

Xelloss rarely felt hatred for humans. They simply weren't worth that much notice most of the time, but at that moment, he despised Zuller with all his soul. He watched with narrowed eyes as the Shrine Keeper climbed slowly to his blistered feet.

"It doesn't matter, anyway," Zuller said lightly. To Xelloss' surprise he advanced toward him, step by step, watching his face carefully.

He felt it when Zuller was still several feet away. It wasn't only the wisps of steam that whispered alluring words of defeat at his spirit. The beaded collar Zuller wore still held a great deal of Shimer's true power, hidden under layers of ordinary magic. Breaking the Shrine had destroyed the Cursed weapons and broken the seal on his power, but it had not affected the Shrine Keepers' Relics at all.

"Yes," Zuller said, nodding. "You can feel it, can't you? It's true that your pawn destroyed the Shrine where Shimer sealed his great magic long ago, but not all of Shimer's power is lost! For generations the Shrine Keepers have studied his magic so that we could recreate it and improve upon it. We've placed all that we know into the Relics. That knowledge and power will survive the destruction of the Shrine and spread through the thousands of Relics that already exist, each one a tiny spear of light to pierce your darkness."

Zuller took another step forward and rattled his beads. Echoing in the cavern, the sound was more irritating than ever.

"Even without the Shrine, we can make more," he said, leering at Xelloss. "Through the power of the Shrine Keepers and the gift of the Relics, all of Humanity will soon join the Great Cause of Shimer! It may take longer without our blessed weapons, but the Mazoku and the Dragons will eventually be destroyed and Humanity will prevail!"

"I see," Xelloss said thoughtfully. "You couldn't recreate the spell that forges those cursed blades, could you? The Keepers weren't powerful enough to do that, so you stole a little of Shimer's power to make the Relics instead. Every Human exposed to them even now will become a cheerful but mindless slave to your cause. In fact, even if the chimera had been made human, he would have become one of your Followers whether he chose to or not?"

"Of course. But he forfeited that right, anyway."

Xelloss glanced aside at Zel's still form. He shook his head and sighed.

"So, in order to save Humanity, you would destroy the will and strength of spirit, and all those wonderful, dark emotions that make them human! My, my, but that would be a very dull world! However, I think you underestimate your own race, Zuller. I've observed the human spirit for over a thousand years, and I'm quite certain that more people than you imagine have the will to resist your strongest magic."

He grinned back at the Shrine Keeper, thinking of people like Lina Inverse and Amelia, and even the bargeman and the old Duglas at the inn. They would never allow themselves to become puppets in some great army under Zuller's command.

"But even so," he continued, "even a single valley full of your cheerful but single-minded Followers would give us Mazoku some headaches. And if I'm not mistaken, only the Shrine Keepers know the secret of making the Relics now. Isn't that true? And besides yourself, there are only a few Keepers left. In fact you, Zuller-sama, are the only one left alive here in the Crystal City. I'm sure I can find the others without too much trouble."

Xelloss cocked his head to peer at Zuller with one eye. He flexed his fingers and gripped his staff. More slowly than the steamy wisps of Shimer's power had evaporated into the air, his power was trickling back from beyond the seal. It was almost enough now.

Zuller beamed at him.

"It won't matter if you kill us all. Even with only the Relics that already exist, there will always be more Followers. Inevitably the Great Cause of Shimer will spread across the earth! Humanity will win in the end, monster!"

"I doubt it, but anyway, I think the end is a long way off from today," Xelloss said mildly. He drew himself up and raised his staff, smiling at Zuller with his eyes fully opened. "Shall I give you a choice, then, Chief Shrine Keeper-sama? Do you wish to die swiftly or slowly?"

Zuller's face twisted, his grin became a snarl of mindless glee, and he leapt toward Xelloss.

"Oh well, then," Xelloss said with a shrug. "Die, _Human_!"

Zuller's face contorted as his heart burst into flame. He stood and laughed as it consumed his body from the inside out. For a few seconds his face appeared as a fiery grinning skull, and then it dissolved into nothing.

Zuller's collar burst and scattered beads to every corner of the chamber. They rattled and glittered on the rocks and then burst from the heat. Xelloss waved his hand in front of his face. Weakened as he still was, those last drops of the Keeper's power were a chokingly sweet perfume to his senses. Even that would dissipate quickly, however, leaving nothing of the Shrine Keepers' spell but the relics already in existence. The other Keepers who knew how to make them could be dealt with later.

He shook his head regretfully. He hated leaving loose ends like that, but it was the best he could do at the moment. After indulging so much of his slowly returning power to destroy Zuller, he wasn't even quite strong enough to escape the chamber.

He stepped across the chamber to squat down next to Zelgadis. Blood flowed from the gaping wound in the middle of the chimera's body and dripped from his stone flesh to smoke on the heated floor of the chamber. If Zel had been human, he would have been in agony from the searing heat of the rocks. Even the fact that he wasn't human didn't matter much after the blow he'd received, Xelloss realized.

He sat cross-legged on the floor next to the chimera. The miasma from Zelgadis' pain had a bitter taste, but it was almost too faint for him to detect and it was fading rapidly. He lifted Zel's head onto his lap and put his hand over the wound where he could feel the life leaving his body. Zelgadis wasn't even fighting to stay alive, Xelloss sensed. He had given up at last, resigned to dying as a chimera. Xelloss' strength had barely begun to return. He was too weak to do anything else now but sit here and wait for Zelgadis to die in his arms.

---

Zelgadis sank into inky darkness so heavy it crushed his chest, so thick he couldn't breathe it in. In a moment, he would let go and let himself be carried away on that ink-black river into whatever lay beyond. There was no reason to hold on and nothing to hold onto, but for a moment longer he would hold on anyway. Then he would let go forever.

But before that moment passed, lights appeared in the darkness, glittering amethyst jewels that held shadows of their own. He blinked, and found he was looking into slitted, purple-shaded eyes.

"Zelgadis-san, are you the one who's dying now?" whispered a voice that sounded surprisingly sad.

The question brought a flash of pain back to his numb body. Calm acceptance shattered; despair at living clashed with rage against dying. He shuddered. The amethyst points of light grew brighter as his own strength slipped away.

"Damn you, Xelloss," he rasped, choking on blood. "Damn you and all of your kind to everlasting hell."

A finger touched his lips. His vision went dark, but he thought he felt breath on his cheek, and he thought he heard Xelloss' voice whispering.

"That's perfect, Zel-san. Thank you."

---

to be continued!

Next: the final chapter...

(important author's note: the scenes at the Shrine were written back in June, long before July 16, so any resemblance between Shimer's enchanted spring and any other magical underground pool or lake you may have read about recently are purely coincidental!)


	13. Chapter 13

Title: Poison (13 of 14 whoops! Turns out there's one more chapter after this!)

Author: Tsutsuji

Date written: August 2005, edited September 18, 2005)

Fandom: Slayers

Rating: R

Pairings: Zelgadis/Xelloss

Type: yaoi/slash, adventure

Warnings: hurt/comfort, angst

Disclaimer: I do not own the copyright to these characters and I'm making no profit from this fic and intend no copyright infringement.

Summary: The fate of Zelgadis and Xelloss is revealed...

NOTE: The end of this chapter has been changed. Chapter 14, the epilogue with lemon, follows this.

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Poison, chapter 13

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Lina Inverse had never been a fan of long-winded speeches -- unless, perhaps, she was the one who was speaking. But a whole series of long-winded speeches while dinner was waiting to be served was absolutely unforgivable. Only the threatening glare from Amelia across the table kept her from casting a spell to make all the speakers loose their voices so she could eat.

She glared right back at Amelia, whose promise of a 12-course gourmet feast had brought her to this state dinner at the Palace in Seyruun in the first place. The Princess had neglected to mention that the formal banquet was in honor of a treaty being arranged between twelve neighboring territories, now all loyal allies of Amelia's father Prince Phil. As far as Lina could tell, each one of those twelve territories had seen fit to send at least twenty dignitaries to Seyruun just to make speeches.

What made the waiting even worse was the old guy sitting next to her, the chatty old captain of the militia in one of those twelve districts. Seeing her alternately yawn, glare, and drum her fingers on the table, he decided she'd be more entertained by stories of his own personal exploits. Her eyes started to glaze over as he described, in detail, how he'd led his troops to drive out every single bandit gang from his country. Lina made a mental note to herself not to visit that part of the world anytime soon.

"How's a girl supposed to make a living in a place with no bandit gangs to rob...er, subdue?" she muttered under her breath.

The old guy shook his head in wonder at his own tale. "I have to admit, it was easier than we expected," he admitted with surprising honesty. "Half of those gangs surrendered without a fight! They were just as friendly and sweet as your old grandmother, and just as generous, too. Couldn't wait to turn over their loot to my troops. I could see why, actually. They had pretty bad taste for bandits; they'd stolen some of the ugliest jewelry I've ever seen."

"Is that so!" Lina said with unconvincing enthusiasm. She wasn't much interested in the latest fashion in bandit wear, especially among reformed bandits. She just wanted the speeches to end before she started gnawing on the table, and before Gourry fell asleep and dropped his heavy head on her shoulder again.

The hair at the back of her neck stood on end. She tuned out the old captain and tuned in to the magical aura she sensed. Noticing it as well as her change of expression, Amelia scowled.

"Lina-san, don't you dare!" she hissed across the table.

But it wasn't any spell of Lina's that gathered in the air. Xelloss flickered into the space between Lina and the talkative militia captain, grinning like the fiend he was and carrying a large, shapeless bundle in his arms.

"Lina-san! It's so good to see you again!" he cried, beaming at her.

"Xelloss!" she squawked. The speech stopped abruptly and two hundred royal heads turned toward her.

Gourry woke up from his doze with a snort, then grinned and waved when he spotted Xelloss. Across the table, Amelia cringed at the undignified interruption.

"I have something for you all," Xelloss said cheerfully, tipping his head to the three of them.

Lina jumped back in her chair with a yelp when he leaned over and dumped the bundle on the table in front of her. Her eyes flew wide open when she saw that the thing was wrapped in Xelloss' own cloak, and that it was soaked through with some dark liquid.

"I know you'll want to take care of this... as quickly as possible, I think," Xelloss said. His voice was still cheerful, but Lina caught an unexpected note of urgency in his words. He stepped back and raised an index finger in front of his face. "After all, you know, healing spells are not in my repertoire!"

He vanished. Lina hardly noticed; she gasped as she saw the silver, wire-like strands of hair poking through the folds of the cloak.

Amelia screamed and dove across the table, scattering wine goblets and empty plates, as Lina peeled the cloak from Zelgadis' blood-soaked body. Without another word, their hands met over the wound from which blood still trickled slowly. The chimera's heart was barely beating and his face was as white as marble.

Lina knew instantly that Zelgadis was too weak for Recovery to activate his own body's healing energy. That level of White Magic wasn't exactly in her repertoire either, but she sent the strongest Resurrection spell she could muster through her hands. Amelia's was much stronger. Lina still wasn't sure it would be enough. Gourry stood at her shoulder, anxious to do whatever he could to help.

"Pray for him, Gourry," she said quietly.

_Xelloss! _she screamed in her mind. _What have you done to him! Even if he lives I'll Dragon-Slave your ass for this, and if he dies..._

She didn't let herself complete the thought. Instead, she turned her anger and worry into a pure burst of White Magic. Zelgadis stirred and hissed in pain... or, she thought, it might have been Xelloss' name he whispered.

---

The heavy, purple darkness Zelgadis had fallen into gave way slowly to a warm, golden glow and the tingle of White Magic permeating his body and soul. He felt something soft and heavy brush his face, and he tried to lift his hand to find out what it was.

"Don't move yet, Zelgadis-san," said a soft, familiar voice. "Lie still a little longer, please."

He found he couldn't do much else. His body felt more like lead than stone, but he managed to open his eyes at least. A curtain of fiery red hung in front of his face, and then it drew back to reveal a pair of sparkling, ruby-colored eyes.

"Nice to see you again, Zel!" Lina Inverse said, as cheerfully as if they'd just met in the marketplace.

"Lina!" he gasped - and then nearly blacked out from the effort of speaking.

Lina chuckled. "There, you see? Better do as Amelia says and lie still! Looks like you could use a little rest, anyway."

She spoke casually, but when he opened his eyes again he could see the concern and weariness on her face, which was mirrored in Amelia's frown of concentration.

Taking their advice, he remained still and stared up at a high, ornately carved ceiling. It looked familiar... after a moment's drifting thought he realized he must be in one of the guest suites in the palace at Seyruun. He couldn't imagine how he'd gotten here. The last thing he remembered was the glittering cave full of steam, and...

"Xelloss!" he croaked.

Lina pushed him back onto the pillows.

"Eh, he's not here," she said casually. "He left right after he dropped you in my dinner plate. Just when the first course was finally about to be served, too! He'll get a Fireball for that, at least!"

_He's alive?_ Zelgadis thought, but he didn't try to say anything more. He was feeling stronger by the second, but it was still too much effort to think and speak at the same time. He settled for thinking in silence, but even that proved to take too much energy...

Zelgadis drifted awake again with his mind already sifting through his memories of the last few days. The healing was done, but he was weary to the core; it still seemed like too much effort to even open his eyes. Lying on his back, still half-dreaming, he tried to piece together what had happened at the end. He remembered Zuller standing over him with his diamond-edged spear raised, and then nothing until he woke up in Seyruun-- except he thought he remembered hearing Xelloss' voice, but now that seemed like it might have been a dream.

But Xelloss had brought him here, which meant the Mazoku was alive and had his powers back. Added to that, the fact that _he_ was still alive as well made it a fairly safe guess that Zuller wasn't. He couldn't help but smile a little at that thought.

Xelloss had saved him when he could have abandoned him and escaped on his own. He never would have expected that. Then again, he'd saved Xelloss, so maybe bringing him here to be healed was just an act of gratitude. He'd noticed that Mazoku seemed to have a sense of honor about some things like that. Xelloss always had his own Mazoku reasons for doing things, especially something like saving someone else's life.

But, he remembered as his thoughts continued to drift aimlessly, he _had_ saved Xelloss, and ended Zuller's deceptive schemes, and accomplished what a whole army of Mazoku couldn't do. With a glow of satisfaction, he remembered the spell he'd created to destroy the Shrine. Original, unique, and powerful, it was a spell that might have impressed Line Inverse, the sorcery genius herself. He had to smile a little about that, too.

"Feeling much better?"

Zel's eyes flew open. The sorcery genius herself sat next to him, leaning back in her chair with her boots up on the bed. He tried to compose himself to hide his surprise and whatever else had been showing on his face. Judging by her suspicious grin, he was a little too late.

"You look pretty content for a guy who just had a chunk of his chest ripped out a little while ago," she said. "Care to share the good news?"

Cautiously, Zelgadis pushed himself up to sit back against the pillows. His body still felt stiff and sore, but it was whole, and his spirit was healed and whole as well. He was nearly as healthy as a chimera could be.

He was also naked, he realized suddenly, except for the blanket covering him up to his chest. He decided not to site up all the way after all. Lina giggled.

"Ah-ha! If you can blush that shade of red, I guess your blood's flowing properly again!" she said gleefully. "Don't worry, it was Gourry and one of the male servants who put you to bed here, once we had you stabilized enough to move. But the only clothes you had on were singed pretty badly, and so was your whole back side. Looked like you'd been guest of honor at a barbecue!"

He remembered the Soldiers grinning even while the superheated rocks burned through their boots to blister their feet. He hadn't even realized he'd been lying on the same hot stones.

"Thank you for healing me," he said to Lina. "I'm sorry to be so much trouble for you."

"Don't mention it!" she said, flapping her hand at him. "Amelia did more than I did, anyway. She's going to be nearly as strong with White Magic as Sylphiel someday."

"I must thank her when I see her, then," Zelgadis said. "I owe you all a great deal."

"Hm," Lina said thoughtfully. "I suppose you do! Care to start paying me back by telling me what happened? In particular, I want to know: next time I see Xelloss, do I thank him or run him through with the Ragna Blade?"

She laughed, but he could tell by her eyes that she was serious and more than just a little concerned. In spite of his smug satisfaction a moment ago, he couldn't seem to open his mouth to speak. How could he even begin to explain all that he'd done, and why he'd done it?

_Well, you see, Xelloss was dying from a curse, so I had sex with him to help him feel better, and then I nearly got myself killed after destroying a sacred healing spring that could have made me normal again, which saved all of the Mazoku from being destroyed. _Granted, the look on her face would almost be worth it, but he just wasn't ready to reveal the details of the adventure to anyone yet, especially since he didn't know the end of the tale himself.

"I know I owe you an explanation, Lina. I'm afraid the story is a little complicated. The truth is, I don't yet know the answer to your question myself."

She regarded him more thoughtfully.

"Well, if it's any help, I think I can guess the answer to that question I just asked, at least," she said.

He looked at her warily. "You can?"

She nodded. "I thought about it quite a bit over the last few hours. At first, I was pretty sure Xelloss was to blame for whatever happened to you. No matter how much he's helped us in the past, I was ready to kill him for it. Even though we all kind of like him, it's never good to forget what he really is, you know?"

Zel glanced away from her penetrating gaze. "Yes, I am quite aware of that."

"But then, the more I thought about it, the more I wondered."

Lina looked down and studied her hands in her lap. Her expression was hidden behind a veil of her hair, and her voice was odd as she continued.

"We weren't sure... you were pretty bad, Zel. You were almost gone when Xelloss brought you here to us. It was really close."

Zelgadis said nothing. For the first time, he remembered that he'd been ready to die-- until he thought he'd heard Xelloss whispering to him in the darkness.

Lina lifted her head and grinned at him. "So, it's a good thing there was a Mazoku around who can teleport so he could get you here in time!" she said brightly. "But aside from that, there's one other odd thing about Xelloss bringing you here. When he left you, you were all wrapped up in his cloak."

It took a second for that to sink in. His eyes flew wide open.

"Uh-huh," Lina continued after seeing his reaction. "It's like he left a part of himself behind with you. The cloak disappeared after Gourry put you in this bed -- after we knew for sure that you were going to recover."

He just stared back at her, unable to say anything to this. After a few seconds, she nodded.

"So, I guess that means I don't have to slice him up with my Ragna Blade after all, hm?" she said cheerfully. "That's good. I'd hate to have to kill my favorite monster!"

She laughed. He managed to smile back at her. He couldn't quite tell her that it wasn't a joke; someone nearly had managed to kill Xelloss. After a moment she looked at him, smiling but more serious again.

"If you're still not ready to explain, I only need to know one more thing, Zel. I know that only a powerful, magical weapon could injure you like that. Are you still in any danger from whoever it is that skewered you?"

He shook his head. "No. I don't believe I am."

She nodded with satisfaction, and to his relief, she really didn't ask any more questions.

But as soon as he'd said it, he remembered the fanatical gleam that remained in the Soldiers' eyes even after their cursed blades dissolved. Even assuming Xelloss had dealt with the squadron of Soldiers in the Hall, there were many more of them at large in the world. Their assortment of enchanted weapons hadn't been linked to the Shrine, including the kind that could kill a rock golem. He also remembered belatedly that two Assistant Shrine Keepers had been conveniently out of town as well... and that he hadn't seen Deputy Shrine Keeper Marcus anywhere after he'd unleashed his spell to destroy the spring.

He decided not to change his answer to Lina. He was a long way from Shimeria now, anyway.

"Well, just promise that you won't go off on your own again without an explanation to your friends, okay?" Lina said, leaning over him with one of her threatening grins.

"I'm done with traveling," he said, to his own surprise. "For a while, at least."

Her eyebrows shot upward at that, but then she laughed. She stood and stretched, then patted her belly.

"Well, as long as that's the case, I guess I'll go and see if there're any leftovers from the feast you interrupted! We're all honored guests of Prince Phil and Amelia, you know, so if there's anything you want, just send for it!"

She headed for the door, then turned and gave him a wink and thumb's up. "It is good to see you again, Zel," she said.

He smiled back at her, but she was gone before he could say anything else.

Over the next few days, Zelgadis became very glad that he knew his way around the palace so he could avoid two hundred or so royal guests (plus servants and retainers) who had gathered for the signing of the Twelve Treaties. After his dramatic entrance, a lot of them were terribly curious about him. They forgot their royal manners when they caught a glimpse of him, or maybe they thought he was no more than a mindless stone statue who wouldn't notice their stares and whispers. He soon acquired a new hooded cloak and scarf, and remembered why he'd worn them all the time before he'd shed them in the Valley of Shimeria.

He spent most of his time in the far corners of the palace gardens, or in the depths of Prince Phil's vast library. (There he read that Shimer had not only taken the jewels of his homeland with him when he went off to battle Mazoku, but he'd taken the name of his homeland as well. He'd been born with the unheroic name of Rory Riverrock.) Amelia, Gourry, or Lina kept Zel company most of the time, and did what they could to deflect the stares and quiet the rumors about him. He was grateful, but he felt awkward because he still hadn't told them what had happened. The more he thought about it, the more he realized how difficult it would be to explain.

He appreciated the company of his friends with their unquestioning acceptance of both his silence and his appearance. The overfriendly stares from the Shimerians had been annoying enough; the unfriendly stares from the palace guests were an uncomfortable reminder of all he'd given up at the Shrine. At least here in Seyruun, people only smiled when they had a reason to smile. Being back in the little group of friends and avoiding the stares of strangers made it seem like life was back to normal, except that he didn't feel normal at all.

He'd become terribly aware of Xelloss' physical presence during their journey, but now he was haunted by the Mazoku's absence from their group. It was even worse at night, when he was alone. It was hard to believe that after little more than a week of traveling together, he'd become so accustomed to having Xelloss nearby that the darkness felt empty without him there.

As days passed into weeks with no sign of Xelloss returning, he sometimes found himself worrying that the Mazoku might not have recovered after all. Maybe, after the weapons dissolved, he'd only had enough strength to bring Zel here before losing his grip on the physical plane entirely. Maybe even the breaking of the Curse had only allowed him to retreat to his spirit form, weakened to the point where he could never take on his human shape again.

He had no way of knowing. He listened, eagerly but discreetly, for news from the rest of the world that would indicate whether Mazoku continued to decline, or whether they had recovered their power to plague humankind. He managed to set aside the fact that, if they had recovered, it would mean he was to blame for allowing them to continue their destructive ways in the world.

He didn't care to provoke questions by asking for news of the world, but it trickled in anyway. The Twelve Treaties made Amelia blissful to know that peace would prevail around Seyruun for another hundred years, but that gave her the opportunity to worry about all the other parts of the world that might need the guidance of the Hammer of Justice.

"Even on the borders of our own peaceful lands, bandits, thieves, and monsters still roam at will!" she cried one night when they were all gathered for dinner in her private suite. "I've heard they're even fiercer than ever these days!"

Zelgadis pushed his chair back from the table a bit and hid behind his cup of tea. He could tell Amelia was just getting warmed up. Gourry looked alarmed as well, but for a different reason. He leaned toward the princess and whispered in a voice loud enough to be heard in the next suite.

"Amelia, don't say that! Next thing you know, Lina will be out there blasting some poor band of thieves into bits! You know how she gets when she hasn't Fireballed anyone for a couple of weeks!"

Zelgadis scooted further back from the table until things had settled down again a few minutes later. He wrapped some ice from his water glass in a napkin and handed it to Gourry for the lump on his head.

"Yeah, well," Lina said as the flames in her eyes died down, "Something's got to be done about these crazy bandits I keep hearing about. All they ever steal is that ugly old jewelry everybody's wearing these days! What bandit-hunter would want to steal, I mean, recover stolen junk like that?"

"Oh, I heard it's because that particular brand of jewelry has become very rare all of a sudden," Amelia said. "They're all after the jewels that come from the Valley of Shimeria. That land is famous for all the fine jewelry made there, but something happened recently -- a big earthquake or something. The whole valley was affected by it, so they won't be able to make any more of their jewelry, at least not any time soon."

"Shimeria, huh?" Lina mused. "I've never been there. Isn't there supposed to be some famous temple of healing there or something?"

Amelia cocked her head. "That sounds familiar, too. Now that you mention it, I heard that the jewelry from Shimeria is supposed to have healing powers as well. Maybe that's why it's so popular these days."

Lina didn't comment on that, having been distracted by Gourry's sudden grab for the last sweet potato. Zelgadis ignored the battle that raged across the table. He'd composed his face into a mask of neutrality at the first mention of ugly jewelry, but he had to hide his grin behind his cup when Amelia mentioned earthquakes. He didn't think his own single spell could have caused that widespread damage, which meant something else had disrupted the flow of commerce in Shimeria. Apparently, Xelloss had recovered just fine after all.

Giving up on the sweet potato as a lost cause, Gourry turned to Zelgadis.

"Hey, if they've got a magical healing temple there, maybe you should go and check it out, Zel!" he said brightly.

Lina stopped in mid-chomp when she heard this, and Amelia turned to him with the Light of Hope blazing in her eyes. He shrugged, still hiding behind his cup.

"I've heard of the place," he said casually. "Rezzo said it was a fraud."

Their faces fell. "Oh," Amelia sighed. "That's too bad."

---

Zelgadis was still grinning to himself later that evening as he got ready for bed. So he thought smugly, Tambor and the other relic sellers would have no new Relics to sell any time soon. He grinned, but he couldn't help feeling a twinge of guilt along with his satisfaction. The Shrine and the Relics had healed a lot of people, and now all of that great healing power was lost. And it could have healed him, if he'd let it.

He'd tried not to think about that too much. Now, as dusk fell and shadows started to fill the garden under his window, it came back to him with full force. It was starting to feel as if a moment of madness had overtaken him back there in the cave.

Nights were cool in Seyruun, but Zelgadis stood by the open window wearing only thin pajama pants without feeling the chill. The evening breeze brushing over his face and his bare chest had little power to warm or cool his stone skin, and couldn't even lift his stiff, wiry hair.

He wondered if Xelloss had really wanted him like this, or if it had all been nothing but manipulation all along. Or maybe, even if it was real, it had only been a sort of fever-dream brought on by the effects of the Curse trapping Xelloss in his human form. Once back in his true form, he probably had no interest in physical intimacy with a mortal, only in the aura of human emotions he could feed on.

If Xelloss was back to normal, he hadn't taken the opportunity to pop in and annoy his human friends with his presence so far. After more than two weeks of expecting him to appear at any moment, Zelgadis was ready to decide that, whatever Xelloss had really wanted him for, the trickster priest was done with him for the time being. Maybe everything Xelloss had said to Zuller about using him was true after all.

He wasn't sure he cared if it was. Alone in his suite, watching shadows creep into the royal gardens, Zelgadis had to admit to himself that he would gladly give Xelloss all the dark emotions he wanted, just to feel his presence again.

He closed his eyes and sighed. The memory of hot, silk-smooth skin and violet eyes came back with such force it made his senses hurt. He'd been right when he'd thought they would never have another moment of intimacy like that again. Finding it to be true made his longing for it feel like his own draught of poison, irresistible in spite of the pain it caused.

He turned away from the window and wondered how it had gotten so dark in the room so quickly. Then the darkness shifted and blurred. Xelloss hovered in the air, inches away.

Zelgadis jumped back in surprise, but Xelloss leaned closer with his eyes closed and his old, smug smile on his face. The longing Zel had just been feeling and the worries he'd had shattered into a burst of anger. Xelloss reached out and hooked his hand around the back of Zel's neck to pull himself closer so they were nose to nose, and one eye winked open.

"Tell me, Zelgadis-san," he said softly. "How does it feel to be the savior of the whole Mazoku race?"

It was the last thing Zelgadis wanted to think about. With a snarl he tried to grab Xelloss' hand away, but that only pulled him closer.

"It feels like the stupidest thing I've ever done in my life, if you really want to know!" Zelgadis snapped. "Even more stupid than letting Rezzo turn me into a chimera in the first place!"

"Ah, but my dear Zel-san," Xelloss said, "every Mazoku in existence would thank you, grant you any wish, any power... "

Zel's eyes flew wide in horror. Having the attention of every Mazoku in existence was a nightmare beyond his worst imaginings. Xelloss smiled more widely.

"...They would if they knew, that is," he finished smugly.

He drifted down to stand in front of Zel with both hands on Zel's bare shoulders, thumbs resting against his throat. Zelgadis knew he could feel the pulse racing there. He stared back at Xelloss warily.

"What do you mean?"

"Unfortunately," Xelloss continued, "I couldn't give you the credit you deserve. In fact, I lied blatantly and took all the credit for ending the Curse of Shimer myself. My entire race thinks I saved them all. Isn't that amusing?"

Zelgadis frowned at him. He was utterly confused now, not least of all by the firm touch of Xelloss' hands on his skin. In spite of his initial appearance floating in midair, he felt just as solid as he did before.

"What story have you been spreading?" he asked suspiciously.

"Oh, there are many tales being told of the terrible destruction of the Shrine of Shimeria. It's generally known, among both my own people and among the residents of the valley, that a certain Mazoku managed to infiltrate the Crystal City with the help of a human dupe. Some say the human had made a pact with the Mazoku and others say he was deluded, but in either case, he only made it possible for the Mazoku in question to enter the city undetected. No mere human could have destroyed the Shrine of the great Shimer, of course! Some also say the human was under a curse and sought to be cured at the shrine."

He leaned forward and opened his eyes, gleaming jewels in the dim light of the room. His smile had vanished.

"Nobody," he whispered, "nobody who tells the tale says that the human gave up his own chance at achieving his heart's desire in order to save his Mazoku companion. Who would ever believe such a thing?"

Zelgadis barely breathed. Xelloss let one hand brush lightly down from his shoulder over his chest to touch the place where Zuller's spear had pierced him.

"I'm glad to see that Lina-san was able to make you whole again, Zel-san," he said, letting his eyes follow his hand's touch. Zel shivered under his gaze. "Does she know how you earned that wound?"

Zelgadis had to blink and swallow a few times to get his voice to work.

"No," he said with a brief shake of his head. "I couldn't explain... it didn't seem... Anyway," he said, drawing his thoughts together with an effort. He caught Xelloss' hand that was softly, maddeningly stroking his skin, and caught Xelloss' eye again as well. "As it happens, I don't know all of the story anyway. What happened after... ?"

"After Zuller attacked you?" Xelloss shrugged. "The cursed blades disappeared after your spell destroyed the Shrine. You realize, of course, that Shimer's power rivaled Rezzo's? And yet you were powerful enough to break his seal and his power! At any rate, once they were gone, I was able to find Zuller and deal with him, after I took care of the Deputy Shrine Keepers he left in charge of me. The seal was slow to release our stolen power back to us, however. Do you remember giving me the strength to bring you here?"

Zelgadis shook his head. "I think... I thought I was dreaming. Actually, I thought I was dead."

"You very nearly were, you foolish mortal! That's why I brought you to Lina-san and the Princess. I thought it was prudent to leave immediately, however; rather than risk facing Amelia-san's wrath!"

Zelgadis shook his head, amazed at Xelloss' sudden switch to facetiousness. The mention of Amelia reminded him of the news he'd heard from her earlier.

"I understand that the production of jewelry in Shimer has been put to a stop. I assume that isn't just because of me?"

"Ah! News travels fast, doesn't it! Yes, I'm afraid you really can't take all the credit for that, after all. After leaving you with Lina, and after a little time in the astral realm to get my full strength back, I had to return to Shimeria in order to tie up a few loose ends. I wouldn't have bothered, but there is one unforeseen complication, I'm afraid. The Relics that exist still retain their power, which includes a little of Shimer's curse in a very diluted form. Zuller claimed that the Shrine Keepers could make more, even without Shimer's sacred pool. I don't know if it's true or not. Unfortunately, all our efforts to locate the two missing Keepers, Argo and Vargus, have gone unrewarded. However, I did find an Under-Assistant Shrine Keeper In Training!"

"Kemara?" Zelgadis said with a pang of regret. He'd liked the former Shrine Maiden.

"Yes. The last I saw of our guide, she was walking away from the Crystal City by the River Road going south, and not looking back. I assume she is heading back to her grandmother's temple. In fact, by my brief observation, many people in the Valley are not at all unhappy about the destruction of the Shrine and the disappearance of the Keepers!"

Zelgadis smirked, but he didn't press Xelloss to admit that he'd let Kemara escape. Perhaps now, the farmers and bargemen and some of the innkeepers of Shimeria could make a decent living, and maybe the true craftspeople would return to work, as well.

Zel's lip curled at the memory of another Shrine Keeper.

"Marcus may have escaped as well," he said. "I wondered if they would be a problem. I also noticed that the Soldiers still had their singled-minded attitude even after the Curse was broken."

"Unfortunately, yes. Also unfortunately, the story being told among the remaining Followers includes a fair description of the Mazoku and his human traveling companion. Everyone in the Valley had heard of the chimera and the priest who were on their way to the Shrine! I'm afraid you may have to look over your shoulder for a while, Zel-san. They'll be hunting for both of us."

"Damn," Zelgadis sighed. "I was hoping I'd never see one of their sickly smiles again."

"I couldn't agree more! However, there's something else I need to tell you that might comfort you...or it might not, for that matter!"

Zelgadis leaned back and looked at him suspiciously. To his surprise, Xelloss let go of him and took a step back. He bowed his head briefly before he spoke again.

"There is one other who knows what really happened at the Shrine," he admitted. "I couldn't lie to Zelas-dono, of course!"

Zel's eyes widened in alarm again. "She knows? You told _her?_"

"She was actually quite impressed with what you did. She sent me to make you an offer, Zelgadis-san. In return for the service you've given to us (and for your secrecy as to how it was done, of course), I can offer you freedom from your chimera form -- if you'll join us." His eyes locked onto Zel's. "I can make you one of us, Zelgadis-san," he said very quietly.

Zelgadis thought his heart would stop. Xelloss' mouth quirked as if he was trying not to laugh at the expression of shock on his face, but the Mazoku remained silent, waiting for his reply.

"That's insane!" he finally blurted out. "I want to be more human, Xelloss, not even less human and more of a monster than I already am!"

He stopped short. He'd probably just insulted the Greater Beast and Xelloss as well. Most likely a fatal offense, he thought. But Xelloss broke into a beaming smile.

"I told her you'd say that!" he crowed, as if he was proud of Zel for answering correctly. "But she insisted I make the offer anyway."

"Then, in that case, what happens since I refused?" Zelgadis asked cautiously. He remembered that Mazoku could get rather insistent about this kind of offer.

"I go back and inform my Mistress that you refused," Xelloss said with a shrug.

"And then what? You come back here with orders to kill me?"

"Zelgadis-san! Why should Zelas-dono wish to have you killed after you saved us all?"

"No disrespect to your Mistress, Xelloss, but I wasn't trying to save your entire race."

Xelloss stepped toward him again. "I'm quite aware of that," he said quietly.

Once again, their eyes met and Zelgadis felt his breath almost stop. Then Xelloss grinned.

"In fact, I'm glad you said no, because this way I get to keep coming back to ask you again and again! However, as it happens, I do have new orders to follow if you aren't interested in becoming a Mazoku right away."

He leaned toward Zel a little, expectantly, like he was waiting for his moment to reveal the punch line. He looked exactly like his old, healthy, mischief-causing self. Zelgadis wasn't reassured. There were fates worse than death, after all.

"Well?" he asked.

"My orders for the time being are to make sure that the fanatical Followers of Shimer are never allowed to harm you."

This time Xelloss did laugh at the shock on Zel's face, and even reached over to nudge his jaw closed.

"Yes, I see you understand! I'm basically going to be your bodyguard, Zel-san. This means we'll be traveling together again... indefinitely."

The flurry of emotions Zelgadis felt in response to this news registered on Xelloss' face. He leaned forward, eyes closed, smiling contentedly, as if he was appreciating the aroma of a savory dish before tasting it.

"So much better..." he breathed. "I can actually enjoy your wonderful, complicated emotions again, Zel-san."

"And is that all you want from me now?" Zel asked without thinking. Irritation flared along with the memory of all that Xelloss had said to Zuller. Impulsively, he reached out to touch Xelloss, prodding him in the shoulder. It felt solid under the cloak, but Zel refused to be deceived. "You're free of this human shell you were trapped in, aren't you?"

He paused, remembering what he'd been thinking only moments before Xelloss had arrived. If all the Mazoku wanted was his stormy emotions, he could have them. But now that he saw Xelloss like this again, he knew it would drive him mad if he had to look at this illusion every day without being able to touch what he saw.

Xelloss held Zel's hand against his shoulder. One violet eye opened.

"I don't hate this body, Zel-san. It gives me a lot of pleasure, being in this form. I only hated being trapped in it without any choice, without my powers. But now that I have my powers back, some things become so much simpler. For instance..."

He didn't even blink, but suddenly his cloak and shirt were simply gone. Zel's hand pressed against bare, warm skin, and Xelloss' hand held it there.

"Although I should never have revealed it," Xelloss said, "my desire for you is real, Zelgadis-san. For your body as well as your spirit."

Zelgadis stared at him. Half-lidded, violet eyes looked back at him, and Zel couldn't convince himself that the desire he saw in those eyes was a lie.

He let his hand drift down over Xelloss' chest, to rest over the place where his heart would be if he were human...where Zuller's spear had pierced him.

Silky-warm skin shivered under his touch, and Xelloss' eyes fell closed. Zelgadis leaned forward and touched his lips to Xelloss'. Once again the Mazoku's hand slid around the back of his neck, the other around his waist to pull him close. Zelgadis was the one who slipped his tongue between the soft lips this time, and he felt Xelloss' fingers curl against his neck in response. The taste of magical power was sweeter and stronger than it had been, but Xelloss' body still felt human to Zel's touch. The Mazoku who had the power to destroy a city or a fleet of dragons kissed him back with shocking gentleness. It made Zel's head swim.

Xelloss trailed his lips lower and closed them over the stones on Zel's skin. Letting his tongue curl over them, he sucked softly. Zelgadis moaned; this place had never been sensitive before, but under Xelloss' touch, fire seemed to arc through his body right to his groin. He could only endure this for a few seconds before he twisted his fingers in Xelloss' dark hair and pulled him up again for a deep, lingering kiss.

With a sigh, Xelloss pulled back a little and opened eyes sparkling with sudden mischief. His hands now rested on Zel's hips, and suddenly he stooped and pulled the pajama pants down to Zel's ankles, revealing the result of his arousing kisses. He stood up again just as quickly. His own trousers simply disappeared. Zelgadis yelped in surprise and Xelloss giggled.

"Damn it, you're still as annoying as ever, Xelloss!" Zelgadis said irritably.

"Yes, I am back to my old self again!" Xelloss said, wagging his index finger in the air. "It's your own fault, you know!"

Zelgadis glared, even though he knew it was true. He was going to have to live with pranks like this from now on, apparently, and he'd brought it on himself.

Xelloss pressed his lips against Zel's cheek. "Do you understand this?" he asked in a quiet voice. "I have all my power now. I am once again the Mazoku I always have been, not the mere shell that you came to desire on our journey. You know my true nature, Zelgadis-san. Knowing that, do you still desire me? Or do you hate me as you did before?"

Zelgadis swallowed with difficulty. He turned his face a little, so their lips were closer together.

"Do you still want me to?"

He felt rather than saw Xelloss' mouth curve into a grin. "Aside from the destruction of the world, of course, there's absolutely nothing I want more."

Zelgadis smiled as well, nudging Xelloss' lips with his own. "It's rather difficult to truly hate someone who saved my life more than once, but I'll do my best," he said.

"In that case," Xelloss whispered, "I think there is nothing more we need to say..."

Xelloss pulled Zelgadis to him and pressed their lips together. Zelgadis returned his kiss eagerly, because the Mazoku was right. For the moment, at least, there was nothing more that needed to be said.

---

to be continued - there's one more chapter after all! The Epilogue: the conclusive lemon scene, and the start of a new journey...

---


	14. Chapter 14

Title: Poison -- Epilogue (chapter, er, 14 of 13)

Author: Tsutsuji

Date written: September, 2005

Fandom: Slayers

Rating: R - M version

Pairings: Zelgadis/Xelloss

Type: yaoi/slash, adventure

Warnings: yaoi, lemon, m/m.

Disclaimer: I do not own the copyright to these characters and I'm making no profit from this fic and intend no copyright infringement.

NOTE: Chapter 13 has been revised, especially the ending, because that really wasn't the ending. This is.

Summary: The journey is over, and a new one begins...

---

There was nothing left to say, and that was good because Zelgadis couldn't find his voice to say it if there was.

"You see how it is, Zelgadis-san," Xelloss said in a strange, soft tone. "I can give you so much pleasure, but I have to cause you some pain as well..."

"Xelloss..." Zelgadis breathed, but he couldn't reply. He couldn't say "I don't care, I just need to _feel_ you," and he couldn't say "It's okay if you cause me pain, because I can't give you any anger," as he wanted to. He couldn't speak, because Xelloss had already dropped slowly to his knees in front of him, trailing fire-hot kisses down Zel's neck and chest and stomach. Now he knelt there, rubbing his cheek like a cat over the stony sharpness of Zel's hipbone. Xelloss' hair felt like warm silk flowing over Zel's erection. Zelgadis didn't have breath enough left to say anything at all, but he didn't think he needed to.

Xelloss slowly turned his head, and his tongue licked like a flame over the tenderest skin at the top of Zel's inner thigh. His surprisingly soft cheek pressed against Zel's erection, but his fingers dug into Zel's hips now, holding him in place. Excruciatingly soft and warm, Xelloss' lips fluttered against his skin, and Zelgadis choked back a moan of needful bliss.

He couldn't bear to look at his body, especially not at his own erection, at purplish-blue skin stubbled with rocklike chips, the most shameful and embarrassing part of his horrid body. But he gazed down on Xelloss, at the purple sheen on his dark hair, at his pale face and his dark lashes hiding his inhuman eyes. He saw the tip of Xelloss' tongue dart from between his lips just before he felt its touch.

Zelgadis could not believe that anyone, even Xelloss, could bear to touch him like this, as ugly and deformed as he was, and _this_ part of him especially. He had been shocked the first time Xelloss had touched him this way, but he was utterly amazed this time because he finally believed that Xelloss wanted him like this.

Xelloss slid his tongue around one of the few truly smooth, fleshy places on Zel's stone body. Zel heard his own moan as if it came from someone else, because it had to be someone else who was feeling this. It couldn't be him.

He could feel his own pulse growing stronger and more uneven with every passing moment. Xelloss sighed, after a while, and pulled away, only to rub his cheek against him again.

"I didn't think I'd ever have the pleasure of tasting you again. At least, not like this," he said against Zel's skin. "I thought, at best, I'd have to be content to only taste your emotions and nothing more."

Zelgadis closed his eyes and twined his fingers in Xelloss' hair. He still couldn't speak; his breath was caught somewhere in his chest. What else could he do to give Xelloss what he needed, or to tell him how much he needed this? Even the groan of frustration that burst from him wasn't enough.

His emotions flickered, light and dark in turn. Right at that moment he couldn't find his anger or despair, even though he thought of what he'd lost and given up for Xelloss, and how he gave up his chance to be normal just to save the Mazoku's life. He couldn't bear to remember the pain of betrayal he felt when Xelloss lied to save him, but for Xelloss' pleasure he tried to recall the physical agony of the near-fatal wound he'd suffered afterward...

"No!" Xelloss growled through clenched teeth.

Startled, Zelgadis glanced down again. Xelloss' face was twisted in a demonic glare in answer to Zel's remembered pain; his eyes flashed dangerously. Zel didn't understand why he looked so angry. Didn't he just say he needed Zel's pain?

Xelloss curled his arms around Zel's waist and clutched his back to pull him forward, possessively. With another low growl, Xelloss took him in again. Zelgadis bucked as his knees trembled. At that moment, Xelloss could have sucked out his soul from his body, and he would have been powerless to stop him.

Glancing down again through the sparks in his vision, he saw Xelloss' eyes close in concentrated bliss. Then his attention was drawn away by a sudden flare of heat from Xelloss' fingers on his back. Claws of flame tore his skin, the only heat and touch that could penetrate his stone flesh.

"_More_," he pleaded, mouthing the words silently, writhing in Xelloss' grasp. "_Take more..._"

The excruciating pleasure in his groin was still greater than the pain in his skin, so he dug his own fingers into Xelloss' shoulder, deep into human-like flesh. He glared down at Xelloss now in frustration, desperate to give Xelloss whatever he wanted. Somewhere in the haze of his thoughts he understood that Xelloss didn't need his pain the way he did before. He wasn't weak now; he wasn't hungry for the dark energy he would get from rage and anguish. Illogically, knowing that only made Zelgadis need to give it to him even more.

"Xelloss! Take it... damn you..."

He yanked on Xelloss' hair, so unsteady on his feet that he would have stumbled if Xelloss didn't hold him, but he couldn't pull Xelloss forward. He twisted in Xelloss' grasp, but he couldn't get more of that fire from the demon's fingertips.

Xelloss moaned deep in his throat. The vibration nearly stopped Zel's breath. There was a pause between heartbeats, and then Xelloss sliced his back with claws of fire. He screamed and his hips jerked forward.

Zelgadis was caught in a moment of pure madness, horrible pleasure and blissful pain colliding in his body, offered and taken, until he thought he could feel Xelloss' desire coursing through his senses just as Xelloss could feel his. Then there was a moment of clarity when he looked down again and saw Xelloss, and saw himself, and felt something explode inside of him, and saw Xelloss drink in the force of that explosion, and thought it was beautiful.

The room spun, his feet left the floor, and he was falling backward through space.

Moments later, Zelgadis realized he was lying on his back, looking up at the ceiling. It was same ceiling he'd stared up at days ago after being yanked back from the brink of death. Now, instead of healing hands and White Magic, there was a leering demon bearing down on him, holding him down with one hand while lifting and spreading his legs with the other.

Zelgadis' suddenly focused vision was caught first by Xelloss' smile, then by his half-lidded eyes, and then by the pulsing strength in Xelloss' naked, human body. At the edge of his vision, he seemed to see a darker outline, a powerful shadow that spread beyond Xelloss' human shape. Then he watched, fascinated, as Xelloss drew his hand away to slide seductively up his own firm thigh, to his own erection.

He stared up at the Mazoku. Again, in the back of his mind, he remembered that Xelloss was not human and this body was only an illusion. The body Xelloss stroked with his own hand was only the magical manifestation of all the agony and pleasure the Mazoku could give him.

At the same time, Xelloss prodded him with heated fingers. He was so limp and drained from his own release moments before that he could hardly resist. Seconds later, he felt like his bones would melt anyway. His eyes rolled back and he stared up at the shadowed ceiling helplessly. He heard Xelloss' hum of satisfaction, and he could just imagine the grin that bent those soft lips. Even though he thought his spine and his stone flesh had dissolved, he felt a tightening in his groin again.

Xelloss' weight fell on him, and he managed to look up to see the Mazoku's face looming above him, grinning. He groaned, and that earned him the full, fixed gaze of Xelloss' wide-opened eyes.

A spiral like a spell of power began to wind between them. Zelgadis shrank in fear from that demonic, hungry gaze, and Xelloss sighed and bore down on him, spreading his legs wider and higher; Zelgadis gasped in pain as Xelloss' fingers dug into his thighs and the glitter in Xelloss' eyes grew brighter; Xelloss shifted to press against him and Zelgadis whimpered in fear and longing; Xelloss took him, and Zelgadis choked on a scream and clutched at Xelloss' shoulders, drawing him closer.

The spiral wound like magical threads of power to bind them together. Zelgadis felt Xelloss' body crushed against his, and heard Xelloss groan, and felt him pulse, burst, and melt within, and he felt himself melt as if he was within Xelloss as well.

Zelgadis drifted back out of purple-shaded darkness into ordinary shadows, and found the soft, amethyst gleam of Xelloss' eyes watching him. He blinked slowly, savoring the weight and warmth of Xelloss' body draped alongside his. This was what he'd longed for more than anything else, and what he'd been certain he would never have again. He wondered if Xelloss knew that. What sense could it possibly make to the Mazoku? But then again, Xelloss had no reason to stay here in this form at all now, and yet, here he was.

Vague sensations resolved into specific points of pleasure: Xelloss' hand that was curled around his thigh, his head resting against Zel's shoulder, soft hair brushing the tip of Zel's ear. There was a feathery softness beneath Zel's head; eventually he realized this was the stuffing from a pillow ripped open by his wire hair while he thrashed around under Xelloss. He smiled. He hadn't shredded a pillow for some time, not since his last nightmare about Rezzo. This was a much better reason to wake up with his hair full of feathers.

Zelgadis realized he was sore in some places he'd never felt anything before, and tired in a very pleasant way. In fact, he struggled against drowsiness, fearful that if he closed his eyes and slept, Xelloss would vanish again. He sighed, remembering to try not to feel too content. To his astonishment, Xelloss nestled against his neck with an answering sigh, flinging his arm across Zel's chest, relaxed yet possessive.

"My, my, Zelgadis-san," Xelloss murmured against his collarbone. "I knew your stamina was greater than any ordinary human, but even so, I'm impressed with your performance just now. I didn't except even you would be able to climax twice in such a short time!"

"What?" Zelgadis had trouble following words or thinking very clearly. Finally it occurred to him just why he felt so drained of life he could hardly move, and yet so incredibly satisfied.

Xelloss laughed and discouraged his feeble effort at thought by kissing him. His surprise at that cleared his mind a little.

Even then, he couldn't think of anything to say, although he wanted to. Something horribly trite, like, "That made me glad I gave up everything I ever wanted for you," perhaps. Something that would make Xelloss stay without making him laugh, if that was even possible.

He decided it was pointless to try to speak, anyway. Xelloss huddled even closer, throwing one leg across his. After nuzzling Zel's ear with his lips he settled in with his face against Zel's neck. It was clear he wasn't going anywhere right away. Relief settled like a warm blanket over Zelgadis. He turned his head to press his cheek against Xelloss' hair.

"I'm glad you're back," he murmured, and fell asleep.

---

Zelgadis sat straight up in bed with a gasp, then immediately wondered what had a startled him awake. The room was full of daylight and fresh air streaming in through the window he'd left open. He only had enough wits to notice that much before the sharp rapping on the door made him jump again.

"Oy, Zelgadis!" Cheerful but concerned, Gourry's voice came through the closed door. "Are you awake in there? We got worried about you when you didn't come down for breakfast. Anything wrong?"

Before he could think of any kind of answer, the latch clicked and the door opened a crack. A blue eye framed with golden hair peered through.

"Oh, there you are!" Gourry said cheerfully, pushing the door a little wider, and then...  
"Hey! Xelloss!"

Clutching the blanket to his chest, Zelgadis froze halfway to sitting up. It took a second for his fogged brain to comprehend the fact that he was under a blanket, and to remember that when he fell asleep he'd been under Xelloss and nothing else.

Then he followed Gourry's smiling gaze and realized Xelloss was sitting beside him on the bed, leaning back against the headboard with his hands behind his head. He was on top of the blanket, not under it, but he was wearing only his trousers and a grin.

"Hello, Xelloss!" Gourry said with a wave of his hand. "Welcome back!"

"Good morning, Gourry-san!" Xelloss said, just as cheerfully. "Oh, dear, did you say we missed breakfast? It's my fault, I'm afraid. I arrived late last night and then kept us both awake until late. We had things to catch up on, you know!" He looked down at Zel out of the corner of one glittering eye.

"Ah," Gourry said, nodding wisely. "Well, that's okay. When you're done catching up and want breakfast, let us now, and we'll all join you!"

Gourry ducked out as quickly as he'd appeared. Zelgadis wasn't sure, but he thought he heard the swordsman humming as he walked away, or maybe, chuckling to himself. Surely Gourry didn't think...? Of course, if he did, he'd be right, but still...

Xelloss sighed happily and sat back with his eyes closed. Zelgadis sighed as well, less happily, and slumped down into the bed again.

"I suppose that _was_ your breakfast, wasn't it?" he muttered.

Xelloss just grinned.

A few minutes later, Zelgadis had managed to climb out of bed and pull his clothes on, hotly aware of Xelloss' gaze the entire time. He tried to imagine his friends' faces when Gourry told them he'd found Xelloss in his room, in -- or at least, on-- his bed. Images from the night before kept flashing in his brain, but each time they were derailed by the sight of Gourry's smiling face peering in at them.

"This is going to be awkward, to say the least," he muttered to himself.

"What are you going to tell them, Zel-san?" Xelloss asked quietly as Zel started to open the door.

Zelgadis glanced back at him. He was fully dressed in his familiar clothes, staff and gloves and all, only missing his traveling cloak. He knew Xelloss wasn't referring to the matter of being found in his bed, although that would be difficult enough to explain.

"I don't know," Zelgadis answered, but as soon as he said it he did know. "Nothing."

He kept thinking that he'd find some way to explain what he'd done in Shimeria, but now, with Xelloss standing there like a walking temptation, he knew he could never explain it all to them. There were some things even his dearest friends didn't need to know.

"They'll hear the rumors eventually," Xelloss said quietly. "Lina-san certainly will, probably from some unlucky gang of bandits!"

Zelgadis remembered what Lina had said just the day before about nearby bandits stealing ugly jewelry. If the Relics had already reached Seyruun, the rumors could not be far behind.

"They'll hear that some Mazoku destroyed the Shrine," he answered. "And they'll assume it was you."

"They'll also hear that a chimera-man was seen in Shimeria at the same time. They'll assume the chimera was there to find his cure and that he heroically tried to defend the Shrine."

Zelgadis couldn't read Xelloss' expression.

"They wouldn't believe me if I told them the opposite is true," he said. He saw Xelloss' eyebrow twitch slightly although his eyes remained hidden. "Unfortunately, they'll also assume that it was you who attacked me and prevented me from being cured."

Xelloss' face did twitch at that. "Oh, so they will! I hadn't thought of that! Lina-san will be quite angry with me, I suppose. Not to mention Amelia!"

Zelgadis chuckled. "Yes, it could become dangerous for you around here when they figure that out. Well, I can't let them damage you after I went to all that trouble to save you, can I?"

Xelloss looked up at him at last. Surprise flickered in his eyes, along with something else Zel couldn't fathom.

"So, you do plan to tell them the truth?" the Mazoku said in that same, quiet voice he'd used a moment ago.

Zelgadis suddenly realized why he sensed so much tension hidden in Xelloss' question.

"Oh, I see," he said softly. "That part of the bargain remains in effect, doesn't it? You're not only going to stay near me to protect me from the Soldiers. You're guarding the Mazoku's secret as well, aren't you?"

Xelloss regarded him through narrowed eyes for several seconds. Then he cocked his head to the side.

"Do you wish to tell them the truth, Zelgadis-san?"

Zelgadis shook his head. "No. I don't."

Xelloss sighed. Zelgadis wondered if he was hiding some relief under mock regret and worry.

"Then it will become awkward around here for me soon," he said. "But that's the price of fame, I suppose!"

"You needn't worry. You have to stick close to me now, right?"

"Why, yes..." Xelloss looked puzzled.

"Well, we'll be long gone before they figure it out," Zelgadis said. He grinned when Xelloss' eyebrows shot upward.

"You're - that is, we're leaving Seyruun?"

"Yes. Tomorrow." He caught Xelloss' eye with a sly grin of his own. "Remember all those stories of ancient magic you told me on the way to Shimeria?"

Xelloss furrowed his brow as if trying to recall.

"To tell the truth, I wasn't thinking much about what I said then!"

"I know. You were just trying to distract me. You mentioned some places I've only heard of in fairy tales before, but you spoke of them as if they were real. I did some research in Prince Phil's library while I've been here. I was especially curious about the place where, according to legend, the study of magic began thousands of years ago. I have an inclination to seek the Lost City of Skye, the ancient home of sorcerers and wise men. Legends say it sank beneath the waves thousands of years ago. I hope you like seafood, Xelloss, because we're heading for the coast, starting tomorrow!"

Xelloss gaped at him. Zelgadis tried not to feel too smug, but it wasn't every day he got to startle the trickster priest into speechlessness, after all. The truth was, he'd just thought up the quest for the Lost City on the spur of the moment. He didn't really care where they went, as long as it was nowhere near the Valley of Shimeria.

Xelloss watched him with a strange expression, almost wistful.

"I see, Zel-san. Can I guess that you hope to find some method to return yourself to a normal human among the magical lore of the lost city? I can hardly believe you still cling to that goal," Xelloss said.

Zelgadis paused. He hadn't even been thinking of that, and he discovered he didn't really know the answer to the question.

"Perhaps," he said after a long pause. "Right now, though, all I want to find is breakfast!"

He turned away and opened the door. When Xelloss brushed past him into the hallway, he realized that last statement was a slight exaggeration. He almost wanted Xelloss again, right then and there. Instead, he took a deep breath and drew himself together to face his friends.

---

"What! You're leaving again already!" Amelia cried after Zelgadis announced that he was leaving Seyruun the next morning.

As soon as he and Xelloss had appeared, the others had joined them at the dining table on the sunny terrace. Lina, Amelia, and Gourry gave no evidence of having eaten breakfast once already that morning - in fact, he would have guessed they hadn't eaten for days if he didn't know them better. They hardly seemed surprised that Xelloss had suddenly appeared again, even if he did appear in Zelgadis' bedroom.

"Zel," Lina said with a dangerous grin around a mouthful of toast, "You promised you wouldn't go off on your own without an explanation first, remember?"

"Well, yes, but... I'm not going off on my own!"

"Huh?" they all said at once.

Lina turned to Xelloss, who sat there watching them all with his benign smile. Gourry looked blank and Amelia looked a little nervous, but Lina nodded with a knowing smile.

"Oh, I see! Xelloss is going along with you, is he?" she said. "You've hardly been here long enough to catch up on all the news and tell us what you've been up to, Xelloss!"

"Ah, well, nothing much out of the ordinary, lately," Xelloss said with a shrug.

Zelgadis lifted his cup of tea to his lips and shoved his chair back from the ruins of breakfast. He sat back to watch Xelloss try to explain where he'd been for the past several weeks. Naturally, Xelloss did a masterful job of not explaining a thing. It was several minutes before Lina found a chance to ask the inevitable question.

"Yeah, yeah," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "That's all very interesting, whatever you're talking about. What I really want to know is, how did you happen to be there to rescue Zelgadis from whatever it was that attacked him?"

Zelgadis braced himself for whatever was to come out of the Mazoku's mouth. If Xelloss gave his usual answer, the full force of Lina's inquisitiveness would be turned back on him. But Xelloss didn't miss a beat.

"Ah, that! It was just a chance meeting on the road, you know!"

It was enough of the truth that Zelgadis could agree without a twitch when Lina looked to him for more explanation.

"That's all there was to it, really," he said, nodding. "Basically."

"Uh-huh," she said.

She still eyed each of them suspiciously, but at least it was clear from her curiosity that she hadn't heard enough rumors to put the story together yet. Still, Zelgadis realized she'd been patient with his silence as long as she could stand to be. It occurred to him that Xelloss might weave a tale more fantastic than the truth, and more embarrassing, if he was cornered into giving some explanation. But Xelloss was saved the trouble of coming up with any further explanation when Gourry pushed his empty plate away and sat back.

"So, where are the two of you going together?" he asked, with an alarming twinkle in his eye.

Gourry's expression reminded Zelgadis of the look on the innkeepers' faces that morning back in Shimeria. Trust the forgetful but observant swordsman to jump to that conclusion, he thought with a sigh. He saw Xelloss try to hide his smile. He felt his own face flush, but he had to hide a smile of his own as well.

"Zelgadis-san wants to look for the fabled Lost City of Skye," Xelloss announced. "I thought I'd tag along and see what he finds out about it."

"Oh, but that's just a fairy tale, isn't it?" Amelia said. "There wasn't a real city like that, was there?"

"According to the Sorcerer's Guild, it never existed," Lina said thoughtfully. "They sent numerous ships out to sea to look for it, but they never found any reliable evidence."

"Well, I don't know if it was real or not," Xelloss said. "It was long before my time, if it did exist. I'm curious as well, but at any rate, it will be pleasant to visit the coast at this time of year!"

"Oh, sure," Lina said, nodding. "Right before the winter storms start to hit!"

"So, Lina, is that why we're going north instead?" Gourry asked.

"Well, partly."

"What!" Amelia wailed. "You're leaving too?"

"Now that I know Zel's out of danger, and all the big feasts and speeches are finally over, I'm ready to hit the road again!" Lina said with a cheerful wink that did nothing to make Amelia feel better.

Zelgadis peered at Lina from behind his cup of tea. He hadn't realized she'd stayed in Seyruun because she was concerned about him. Now that he thought about it, he'd never known her to stay in one place for so long, even if the food was great. Then again, he rarely stayed this long in one place, either.

She sat back and stretched, then sighed with a faraway look in her eyes. "It's been a long time since I visited my hometown. If we don't run into any trouble on the way, we should get there in time for the harvest festivals!"

Gourry nodded. "That means we'll probably get there in time for spring planting," he said. He sounded absolutely serious, but he was prepared to duck when Lina's fist shot out to pop him in the ear.

The next morning, he stood just outside the gates of the City of Seyruun, looking at the westward road that led across woods and farmlands toward the Coastal States and the distant sea. Xelloss stood beside him silently with his face shadowed.

At the city gates, Amelia was anything but silent, although she did her best to maintain her dignity as the Princess of Seyruun. Lina and Gourry stood nearby at the start of the road that circled northeast around the city walls. They were already arguing (in a relatively friendly way) about the best route to take north to Zefiera.

"It's not fair that you're all going off to have adventures without me!" Amelia wailed.

Lina broke off her fight with Gourry in mid-sentence. "Amelia, as the Princess of Seyruun, you have duties here in the city. Besides that, you need to go on with your training as a Shrine Maiden!" she said sternly.

Gourry switched gears just as quickly and nodded at Amelia. "You're a great warrior, Amelia, but with friends like us, you need to be a great healer as well!"

"That's true, Amelia-san," Xelloss spoke up unexpectedly. "By the way, I never thanked you and Lina-san for taking such good care of Zelgadis-san after I brought him here."

He bowed to them. Amelia's eyes got very large and shiny, but Lina regarded him skeptically.

"Xelloss-san," Amelia said, throwing her arms wide. Before anyone could stop her, she leapt forward and flung herself upon him in a bone-crunching hug. "Even though my heart breaks to see you and Zelgadis-san leave, knowing that you saved his life makes the light of friendship burn in my heart!"

Xelloss cringed helplessly in her embrace. Zelgadis stood frozen, torn between the urge to laugh out loud and the desire to tear her away and jump between them to protect Xelloss.

"Amelia!" Lina cried, laughing. "That's no way to thank a Mazoku! You'll make him sick with all those friendly feelings!"

"Oh!" Amelia jumped back as if she'd been grazed by a Mono Volt. "Xelloss-san! I forgot!"

Again, before anyone could stop her, she raised her hand and pointed at the startled Mazoku in a familiar gesture.

"Xelloss-san, it was wrong of you to let Zelgadis-san be hurt in the first place!" she cried. "Now it is your duty to protect him from any further harm, or feel the wrath of my burning Fists of Justice!"

"Oh, my!" Xelloss cried. He drew back from her but he sounded impressed. "If you say so, Amelia-san, I certainly will do my best to look after him from now on!"

"Humph!" She glowered at him a moment longer, then turned away abruptly. Her shoulders slumped; she looked as weary as if she'd just battled the Dark Lord himself.

"That was not easy," she panted.

"Don't hurt yourself, Amelia," Lina said. She still sounded amused.

"Hey, Lina," Gourry said. He nudged her in the shoulder but he was looking at Xelloss. "Friendship won't really make him sick, will it? I mean, it's okay if we all like Xelloss, right?"

Lina grinned. "Well, it doesn't really do him any good...!"

"Lina-san!" Xelloss cried weakly. "You mean to say you only like me on purpose? All this time, I thought your positive regard for me was real!"

"Oh, it is, Xelloss," she said. "At least it will be as long as you really do keep Zelgadis out of trouble from now on!"

"I'll definitely do my best to do that!" Xelloss replied, with a wink aside at Zel.

"I don't need a guardian," Zelgadis muttered, but he knew he should have known better than to protest.

"It's okay, Zelgadis," Gourry said. He threw his arm around Lina's shoulders. "Xelloss can be your guardian, just like I'm Lina's guardian!"

Lina gave them all a long-suffering look. For once, Zelgadis knew just how she felt.

A moment later she turned away, then reached back and pulled Gourry along behind her while he was still trying to wave goodbye. Zelgadis bowed deeply to Amelia, but then he turned away quickly too, before the diamond-bright tears could start falling from her eyes.

He started down the westward road with Xelloss at his side. Soon the sounds of the city (and of Lina and Gourry arguing) faded away behind them. Looking along the road as it wound through the golden meadows of the kingdom of Seyruun, Zelgadis smiled. Even though he wasn't driven by his familiar goal of finding a way to be normal, Zelgadis still felt as excited and eager as he'd ever felt at the start of a journey. He might not have helped saved the world on his last journey, but somehow it seemed as if everything had turned out all right, after all.

On the other hand, he reflected, his unusual feeling of peace with the world could be due to the mind-blowing things Xelloss had done to him last night, and again this morning...

Xelloss kept pace beside him as the road wound up and down over small hills, and through the many villages that clustered near the White Magic capital. The Mazoku was light on his feet now, very different from the plodding, determined priest he'd been on the journey through Shimeria.

Even so, Zelgadis still felt his physical presence sharply, except that now there was more to it. Now he could also sense the strong, magical energy brimming just below the surface of Xelloss' human facade. He thought the constant reminder of Xelloss' true nature would disturb him, but that hidden power now intrigued his astral senses just as the physical form had aroused his human desire.

Xelloss watched him out of the corner of his eye as they walked. Either he already knew the direction Zel's thoughts were taking, or he was trying to inspire those very thoughts with his suggestive grin. Those thoughts began to warm Zelgadis inside in a way the late summer sun could never do.

The Mazoku gazed at the golden meadows on either side of the road, and at the road itself winding away toward the afternoon sun. Then he looked sidelong at Zelgadis. His amethyst eyes gleamed with a light of their own.

"How far do you wish to travel before we stop to rest?" he asked innocently. "I assure you, I won't grow weary and make our day short as I did before. We can walk all night if you want to!"

"Don't be absurd," Zelgadis muttered irritably.

Xelloss' smile grew wider and Zel's face grew hotter. At least Zel wanted to get well out of sight of Seyruun City before they stopped for the night, but he began to think he was going to be the one making their days short this time.

"Well, then," Xelloss continued, "shall I help pass the time with stories while we walk? Did I tell you the one about the dragon and the troll who met in a tavern...?"

Zelgadis winced and stumbled over an invisible pebble in the road.

"Please don't!" he said with a shudder. "Xelloss... one more dragon joke and I swear I'll blast you to the astral realm for good!"

"Ah, Zelgadis-san!" Xelloss sighed happily. "It is so good to be traveling with you again! Just like old times -- only better!"

Zelgadis glared at him. Xelloss chuckled.

"Damn Mazoku," Zelgadis muttered under his breath.

Xelloss turned and caught his gaze.

"Foolish chimera," he said with a smile.

Xelloss turned away and continued on serenely, walking beside Zel with his usual bland smile.

Zelgadis sighed. Foolish indeed, he thought, to be starting off on a journey to places unknown with a seductive trickster of a Mazoku as his self-appointed guardian! But he smiled to himself as he followed Xelloss' gaze toward the horizon, and once again found he was content to be simply walking along at his ease, ready for whatever adventures awaited them down the road.

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--- The End ---

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(Truly finished this time! Thanks - again - to all the readers and other fic writers who inspired this story and gave me such great feedback all along the way.

I'm not promising anything... don't hold your breath... but there is likely to be a sequel. This chapter is the Epilogue to Poison, and it might also be the Prologue to the further adventures of Xelloss and Zelgadis in a story that might be called -- Birth Rite.)


	15. Extra bonus lemon outtake scene

Title: Poison (chapter 14.5 - Bonus Out-take Chapter!)

Author: Tsutsuji

Rating: M, for m/m sex

Disclaimers and other warnings in chapter 1

Summary: Don't get too excited! This isn't really a new chapter, it's just an alternate version of the sex scene at the beginning of chapter 10, from Xelloss' point of view. I didn't post it here before because I thought it was too hot for ffnet's M rating, but it doesn't seem like such a big deal anymore, so, here it is. It was too revealing to include in the story if I wanted anyone to believe he was really turning against Zel in chapter 11. (Did anyone believe that, even for a second? *wink*)

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"You also said that if I wanted you, it wouldn't be any good for you," Zelgadis reminded him in a whisper, letting their lips brush together as he spoke. "If that's true, we have a problem...." He moved against Xelloss until that surprising hardness met his own. "... Because I do want you, Xelloss. Did you think it was only because you tricked me into feeling this way? It isn't, damn you..."

_Xelloss paused with his eyebrows raised but his eyes closed. Zelgadis gave in to the desire he'd been trying to hide so that the Mazoku could feel it. Xelloss smiled slowly. _

_"I wondered why you weren't furious after what I did to you this morning!" he murmured. "And how you managed to tease me.... I thought you hated me far too much for this, Zelgadis-san."_

_"I can hate you if you want me to. If that's what'll make it good for you..."_

_He bit Xelloss' lip, and suddenly they were locked in a bruising kiss as if trying to devour each other, fingers digging into each other's flesh, and then Zelgadis pulled Xelloss to the side and they were falling onto that one bed which didn't seem too small after all._

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Poison chapter 10 take 2: Xelloss' pov

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Aside from the joy of unbridled destruction, Xelloss had never felt such pleasure as the surge of lust that him when Zelgadis bit his lip. It was as though his body hungered in the same way his spirit hungered for the dark energy Mazoku fed upon. It overwhelmed him; for a moment he was lost in it, wanting Zelgadis in a way he didn't think he could want a human, physical as well as emotional. A second later he found himself on that ridiculous flowered bedspread with the chimera's heavy stone body on top of his. He wasn't even sure how he got there, but he certainly didn't want to be anywhere else.

Having given in to his desire, Zelgadis radiated almost pure lust, but it was still twisted with self-loathing, shame, guilt, and fear -- the exquisite elixir of emotions Xelloss had always been drawn to. The chimera was never as good or as evil as he felt he should be, never satisfied with himself, always wanting the other side of what he had. Those beautifully conflicted emotions had grown so familiar to Xelloss that he hadn't noticed when they'd started to focus on him.

Now, the focused energy of Zelgadis' emotions hit him like a drug, feeding his spirit with a burst of power. It wouldn't last, but he didn't care. More startling than that, this heavy, fragile human shell he wore was inflamed with the need to feel Zelgadis in the most physical way possible.

Zelgadis was already trying to tear his clothes off as quickly as possible, so Xelloss returned the favor, clawing at fabric with his soft, human fingers to get at the chimera's flesh. Waves of lust and need, both Zelgadis' and his own, kept distracting him from this task, but finally he found himself flat on his back with all of his human skin exposed, and Zelgadis straddling his hips and leering down at him. Leering... but it wasn't the demon inside that gave him that fiery expression, it was just his own human desire unleashed.

A lamp on the dresser had burned low, leaving most of the room in shadows. Its light gave a soft sheen to Zelgadis' metallic hair and glinted off the smooth stones embedded in his skin. Crystal blue eyes glittered like gems in the dark. Zelgadis ran his hands over Xelloss' skin, as if to assure himself that it was real.

Oh, it was all too real: flesh as dense and humanlike as possible, energy constricted into a small point of being. Compared to his awareness and reflexes on the astral plane, human senses were so limited that Xelloss often felt deaf, numb, and blind. But Zelgadis' fingers were so cool and rough he could feel them just as intensely as he felt the touch of Zelgadis' astral spirit, that beautiful demon part of him that gave him so much magical capacity. As desirable as he found that spirit, it was the physical touch Xelloss' human body craved right now. He pressed Zelgadis' hands onto himself more firmly in his need for more sensation. Zelgadis took the hint immediately. Xelloss knew the chimera's fingers were sensitive but the skin was rough stone, sandpaper rough to scrape the soft flesh Xelloss wore.

He could sense Zelgadis' fascination with his skin and the shape of his body. If it wasn't so distracting he would have laughed at the role-reversal between them at that moment, but he didn't hate his human body as much as Zelgadis hated his chimera form. He knew well enough that it was desirable by human standards. Only now that he was so trapped and limited within it, he'd begun to understand Zelgadis' revulsion for his own body. But Zelgadis wanted him like this--it still surprised him, even though he realized now that the signs had been there all along.

Zelgadis had only revealed his desire when he recognized Xelloss' desire for him. Xelloss knew he shouldn't have given in like this, and under any other circumstances he wouldn't have been able to. But he'd teased himself with wanting Zelgadis as long as he could stand. The consequences of giving in to that desire no longer mattered-- they still didn't, even though those consequences seemed to be much different than what he'd expected.

He watched Zelgadis' face, feeling his touch and the weight of his body, drinking in his emotions. He sensed and saw lust and curiosity tinged with shame, but fueled by a recklessness that Xelloss felt as well. That recklessness allowed Zelgadis to touch him in a way he'd never touched anyone, not even himself.

When Zelgadis closed his rough fingers around that hard shaft that had surprised him so much a few minutes before, Xelloss felt the shock of the sensation arc through his body like some astral attack spell. He moaned with the fire of it and tried to get more of that cool, rough pressure, but he couldn't move his hips to lunge up into Zelgadis' hand. So he did all he could do: he reached up and grabbed Zelgadis' shoulder, clamped his hand around the back of his neck, and pulled the chimera down on top of him.

Zelgadis didn't resist -- not physically, although he felt a flash of frustration mixed with fear of Xelloss' strength. Xelloss needed those emotions as strongly as he needed to touch of Zel's flesh, so he tightened his grip on Zel's neck and nipped at his lips with his own sharp teeth.

Through his dull human senses he drank in the sensations of Zelgadis' presence: soft grunts of protest and the sound of their bodies writhing against each other, the taste of his mouth, the heat of his breath and the cool roughness of his skin, and the scent of their arousal rising between them. Surprisingly, the sensations were as sharp as the tang of his emotions. That was good, Xelloss realized. Even though he felt starved for the taste of those dark feelings, he knew all too well by now that indulging in them would only draw his strength away more quickly. So he indulged his human flesh more fully, and only lapped gently at Zelgadis' swirling emotions.

He pressed Zelgadis' body more firmly to his, writhing up against him until he felt the stones scratch his skin. Zelgadis responded with a grunt of surprise, but once again he took the hint. He attacked with his full weight, twisting himself onto Xelloss, and grabbing his hair by the roots to yank his head back and nip at his throat with those demon-sharp teeth. And, perhaps less consciously, he thrust himself against Xelloss so their erections rubbed together, making them both gasp.

Xelloss had all the sensitivities and responses of a human in this shell of a body; he'd felt arousal before, but never so intensely as this. Clutching Zelgadis' shoulder with one hand, he reached lower with the other and clasped the tight mound of his ass. Zelgadis jerked and made a choking sound, and for a moment Xelloss tasted his fear and confusion from this new sensation. It was temptingly sweet, and despite the danger of indulging in it, he couldn't resist. He squeezed his hand tighter and Zelgadis went still.

"Is your marvelous stone body still sensitive here, Zel-san?" he whispered teasingly. "I'll be disappointed if it isn't.... especially here..."

He squeezed again and this time let his fingers slip into the cleft between the firm mounds. Zelgadis didn't move or make a sound, but his mingled fear, lust and surprise hit Xelloss like an Elmekia Lance. Xelloss squirmed and pushed up so that Zelgadis could feel his erection, hot and hard, poking him in the groin.

"Didn't you know this is how I want you? Isn't this what _you_ want?" he taunted as his fingers prodded deeper between Zelgadis' clenching muscles.

True resistance, fear, conflicted desire and doubt shot through Zelgadis and into Xelloss' soul. He'd decided the moment Zelgadis stepped over the threshold of this room that he wanted him like this, now. He wasn't sure then that he'd have the strength. It took so much of his power just to maintain this form, and the more he took from Zelgadis the more he would lose. But now he knew he had to. He had to, even if it drained him to nothing, and even if Zelgadis did end up truly and completely hating him after all. He might never have another chance.

He gathered the power he'd just received from Zelgadis' emotions before it could slip away, and gave it to his body. He used that strength to flip the startled chimera onto his back, with his arms and legs spread wide. The helpless, betrayed look in those sapphire blue eyes filled him with glee -- and a touch of regret. Zelgadis didn't see the regret; all he saw were Xelloss' fully opened eyes staring down at him, invoking a new wave of mingled fear and lust.

He wedged Zelgadis' thighs apart with his knees, held him down with the sudden strength he'd gained in one hand against his chest, and thrust his other hand between Zel's spread thighs. Zelgadis' cock jumped but his muscles clenched, and Xelloss closed his eyes to savor the sharp taste of his fear. He smiled -- and Zelgadis gave him a luscious new quiver of fear just from seeing that.

He opened his eyes and withdrew his hand, letting his fingertips brush up the length of Zelgadis' shaft before closing them around his own. His body's arousal surged into this one place, pulsing and heated with his hunger for Zelgadis. The chimera stared at his thick erection with very round eyes.

"You said you wanted me too, didn't you? It's plain to see how you desire this body, this..." he stroked himself, watching Zel's eyes. They seemed mesmerized by the movement of his hand. "This is how I want you. I want to be deep inside of you, of course. What else did you expect me to do to you, hmm?"

Zelgadis' throat muscles contracted as if he was trying to speak or swallow but couldn't do either. He reached up and grabbed Xelloss' arm that held him down, twisting his fists around it, but he couldn't free himself. Xelloss wasn't convinced he really wanted to.

He nudged Zelgadis' thighs wider and lifted them off the bed, then shoved his hand in again. The chimera's cool stone body was warm there, and hotter still where he pressed his index finger inside.

Zelgadis made a strangled sound, struggled and tried to clench his body against the invasion, but failed. For a moment he gave in to helplessness, but a spark of lust took over when Xelloss wiggled his finger in deeper.

Then he felt it-- exactly what he'd been waiting for, what he desired and dreaded -- a surge of pure, black hate. Flushed with the power of it, Xelloss thrust another finger inside and felt the emotion swell--but Zelgadis' erection stiffened also.

He leaned down over Zelgadis, watching the blue eyes widen as he again opened his own eyes all the way.

"Your hatred tastes wonderful, Zelgadis-san, but I can't tell what it comes from. Do you hate me for doing this to you, or do you hate yourself for wanting it so much?"

Zelgadis stared at him for a second, speechless with shock and denial. Then his need and longing and horror flared so strongly that for a second Xelloss thought the shaman really had unleashed some magical attack. It wasn't magic; it was only the force of emotions that matched the struggle of Zel's body as he tried to pull Xelloss down onto him and wiggle free of the invading fingers at the same time.

In a thousand years among humans, Xelloss had learned nearly every way there was to manipulate them, body and soul. He knew just how to push three fingers deep inside Zelgadis, stretching him and searching for the key that would put the chimera totally under his control. He knew when he'd found it by the way Zelgadis shuddered and moaned his name so that it sounded like a Word of Chaos. But Zelgadis had taken his last hint as well. As soon as the shock of that sensation had passed, he raised his head and glared at Xelloss with all the fury he could muster.

Xelloss moaned with the force of it. His body stiffened with need, but even as the pleasure from Zelgadis' dark emotions hit him he felt the power wrenched away into the void. He put all that he could hold onto of it into this human body and its physical response to Zelgadis, into his long-denied desire for him.

Zelgadis jerked under him when he suddenly withdrew his hand. He pushed Zel's legs up and apart, and before Zelgadis could squirm in surprise he pressed him down and thrust the tip of his erection where his fingers had been.

Zelgadis went stiff and still, except for his fists that tore at the flowered bedcover, and his eyes staring up at him pleadingly. Xelloss couldn't tell what he was pleading for, release or conquest, or both. It didn't matter; it might later but it didn't right now. He flexed his hips and pushed inside. The heat and tight pressure made him gasp.

Zelgadis screamed; his delicious pain was like dark fire shooting through Xelloss. He almost screamed as well from the intensity of the sensations in his tightly focused human body combined with what Zel was feeling. The chimera's struggle was real now as he scrambled desperately to get free of the piercing, tearing pain. It felt so good to Xelloss' hungry spirit to have someone writhing in agony underneath him, but he couldn't enjoy it. With a groan of effort he quickly shoved in deeper, and another stroke, faster, until suddenly Zelgadis' pain burst into shocking pleasure. His sapphire eyes flew wide open and his whole body convulsed, caught between trying to get away and holding on to Xelloss.

Xelloss struggled to keep his grip on all the power that Zelgadis was giving him through his clashing emotions: willing resistance, denied desire, a helpless demand for more as he started to move with Xelloss. It was hard to do with his body consumed in sensation and need. He had never felt so much before, at least not like this, feeling so much pleasure in his physical senses and so much less in his true self. Feeling the pull on his spirit as the power was immediately drained away made the pleasure so much more intense, and made his sense of need for Zelgadis that much more desperate.

A wave of anguish hit him, not his own but Zel's, as if he also knew that this could be their last and only time to do this. He couldn't let the Curse steal that perfect agony away. Clutched tightly around Zelgadis, feeling their bodies slapping together with the chimera's stone-flecked legs now hooked around his back, drawing in the scent and feel of him, Xelloss pressed his face against the hard stones on Zel's chin and neck. He gathered the power into his human form, into the focused point of sensation, and released it into Zelgadis' chimera body. He felt a sense of triumph even as it drained him to near exhaustion; at least he had given it to Zelgadis in this way instead of letting it be stolen by Shimer.

A few seconds later he felt Zelgadis jerk under him, and molten-hot fluid spurted between their bodies. By then his physical senses were so highly stimulated that he could hardly feel Zel's emotions hitting him. He only knew when Zelgadis settled moments later, with one last, surprised-sounding gasp, into soft oblivion.

Xelloss lay still on top of the chimera's lax body, which now felt like sun-warmed stone. He let his own energy grow still as well, preserving what power he could. Letting his body rest in a semblance of human sleep was the only thing that halted the loss of power, he'd found, but it didn't restore lost power. And anyway, he didn't feel like sleeping. He'd almost become used to the steady drain on his power, but he hadn't gotten used to the way it made him aware of the passing of time. He didn't have much time left with Zelgadis. He couldn't even guess what the chimera would do when he returned to consciousness after this -- hitting him with a spell attack was still a possibility -- so he wasn't going to waste a minute sleeping.

He pulled out and away from the unusually relaxed stone body. It was charmingly vulnerable, he thought with a smile, the way the powerful chimera simply passed out after reaching orgasm. If he meant Zelgadis harm or even had a mind for mischief, now would be the time for it, but that's not what he wanted.

Lying alongside Zel, he bent low over him and lightly touched his tongue to the pool of fluid on his stomach. The taste of Zel's release was a purely physical pleasure that he could indulge in without risking any further drain on his astral powers, so he lapped it up softly and quickly before Zelgadis returned to awareness.

He settled alongside Zelgadis again and watched his eyelids tremble in some drowsy dream, and ran his human-soft fingers through the smooth, metallic hair. He should never have become so entangled with a mortal, he mused. It shouldn't even be possible, really. In human terms, he was almost what they would call fond of Zelgadis, or maybe infatuated would be their word for it... something like that. Their own words for these kinds of emotions often seemed muddled to him. At any rate, his fascination with Zelgadis, even to the point of wanting to give Zel what he wanted, was entirely against his nature. But then, so was dying, and he was doing quite a fine job of that.

He watched Zelgadis' lips twitch upward as he climbed back up to consciousness. He closed his eyes to sense the first wave of waking emotions, whatever they might be. It was mostly just curiosity now, though. He'd gained all he could from Zelgadis' presence, and he'd taken what he wanted physically at last. Now he could go on to the end of his mission and do what he'd come to do, live or die, either with or without a foolish chimera for company.

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(end of Bonus Chapter)

Feedback is welcomed.. loved... cherished... adored!


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